νίκη

See also: Νίκη and νίκῃ

Ancient Greek

Alternative forms

• νίκα (níka) — Doric

Etymology

The origin is uncertain. Perhaps from Proto-Indo-European *neyk- (“to attack, run at”) and cognate with νεῖκος (neîkos, “quarrel, strife”), Lithuanian ap-nìkti (“to attack”); however, Beekes is semantically unconvinced, and prefers to take the word as Pre-Greek.^[1]

Pronunciation

 

• IPA^(key): /nǐː.kɛː/ → /ˈni.ci/ → /ˈni.ci/

• (5^th BCE Attic) IPA^(key): /nǐː.kɛː/
• (1^st CE Egyptian) IPA^(key): /ˈni.ke̝/
• (4^th CE Koine) IPA^(key): /ˈni.ci/
• (10^th CE Byzantine) IPA^(key): /ˈni.ci/
• (15^th CE Constantinopolitan) IPA^(key): /ˈni.ci/

Noun

νῑ́κη • (nī́kē) f (genitive νῑ́κης); first declension

1. the act of winning: victory, success [with genitive ‘over, in something’]
   1. things won in victory, fruits of victory
   2. the upper hand, advantage

Inflection

Case / #	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	ἡ νῑ́κη hē nī́kē	τὼ νῑ́κᾱ tṑ nī́kā	αἱ νῖκαι hai nîkai
Genitive	τῆς νῑ́κης tês nī́kēs	τοῖν νῑ́καιν toîn nī́kain	τῶν νῑκῶν tôn nīkôn
Dative	τῇ νῑ́κῃ têi nī́kēi	τοῖν νῑ́καιν toîn nī́kain	ταῖς νῑ́καις taîs nī́kais
Accusative	τὴν νῑ́κην tḕn nī́kēn	τὼ νῑ́κᾱ tṑ nī́kā	τᾱ̀ς νῑ́κᾱς tā̀s nī́kās
Vocative	νῑ́κη nī́kē	νῑ́κᾱ nī́kā	νῖκαι nîkai
Notes:	This table gives Attic inflectional endings. For declension in other dialects, see Appendix:Ancient Greek dialectal declension.

First declension of ἡ νῑ́κη; τῆς νῑ́κης (Attic)

Case / #	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	νῑ́κη nī́kē	νῑ́κᾱ nī́kā	νῖκαι nîkai
Genitive	νῑ́κης nī́kēs	νῑ́καιν / νῑ́καιῐν / νῑ́κῃῐν nī́kai(ĭ)n / nī́kēiĭn	νῑκᾱ́ων / νῑκέ͜ων / νῑκῶν nīkā́ōn / nīké͜ōn / nīkôn
Dative	νῑ́κῃ nī́kēi	νῑ́καιν / νῑ́καιῐν / νῑ́κῃῐν nī́kai(ĭ)n / nī́kēiĭn	νῑ́κῃσῐ / νῑ́κῃσῐν / νῑ́κῃς / νῑ́καις nī́kēisĭ(n) / nī́kēis / nī́kais
Accusative	νῑ́κην nī́kēn	νῑ́κᾱ nī́kā	νῑ́κᾱς nī́kās
Vocative	νῑ́κη nī́kē	νῑ́κᾱ nī́kā	νῖκαι nîkai
Notes:	Dialects other than Attic are not well attested. Some forms may be based on conjecture. Use with caution.

First declension of νῑ́κη; νῑ́κης (Epic)

Derived terms

• Θεσσαλονίκη (Thessaloníkē)
• νῑκαῖος (nīkaîos)
• νῑκάω (nīkáō)
• νῑκήεις (nīkḗeis)
• νῑκηφορέω (nīkēphoréō)
• νῑκηφορία (nīkēphoría)
• νῑκηφόρος (nīkēphóros)
• Νικόπολις (Nikópolis)

 

Given names derived from νίκη (níkē)

• Ἀγλαονίκη (Aglaoníkē)
• Ἀνδρόνικος (Andrónikos)
• Βερενίκη (Bereníkē)
• Δημονίκη (Dēmoníkē)
• Ἐτεόνικος (Eteónikos)
• Εὐνίκη (Euníkē)
• Νίκανδρος (Níkandros)
• Νίκη (Níkē)
• Νικήρατος (Nikḗratos)
• Νικίππη (Nikíppē)
• Νικόδημος (Nikódēmos)
• Νικοκλῆς (Nikoklês)
• Νικόλαος (Nikólaos)
• Νικόλας (Nikólas)
• Νικολέτα (Nikoléta)
• Νικολέττα (Nikolétta)
• Νικολής (Nikolḗs)
• Νικόμαχος (Nikómakhos)
• Νικομήδης (Nikomḗdēs)
• Νίκος (Níkos)
• Νικόστρατος (Nikóstratos)
• Στρᾰτονῑ́κη (Strătonī́kē)
• Φερενίκη (Phereníkē)

 

Descendants

• Nicholas
• Nick
• Nicola
• Nicolaos
• Nicolas
• Nicos
• Nike
• Niki
• Nikola
• Nikolaos
• Nikolas
• Nikoleta
• Nikolis
• Nikos

 

References

1. Beekes, Robert S. P. (2010) “νῑ́κη”, in Etymological Dictionary of Greek (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 10), with the assistance of Lucien van Beek, Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, pages 1021-2

Further reading

• “νίκη”, in Liddell & Scott (1940) A Greek–English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “νίκη”, in Liddell & Scott (1889) An Intermediate Greek–English Lexicon, New York: Harper & Brothers
• “νίκη”, in Autenrieth, Georg (1891) A Homeric Dictionary for Schools and Colleges, New York: Harper and Brothers
• νίκη in Cunliffe, Richard J. (1924) A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect: Expanded Edition, Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, published 1963
• G3529 in Strong, James (1979) Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance to the Bible
• Woodhouse, S. C. (1910) English–Greek Dictionary: A Vocabulary of the Attic Language‎, London: Routledge & Kegan Paul Limited.
  • conquest idem, page 161.
  • mastery idem, page 517.
  • superiority idem, page 839.
  • triumph idem, page 896.
  • victory idem, page 951.
• Bauer, Walter et al. (2001) A Greek–English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature, Third edition, Chicago: University of Chicago Press
• “νίκη”, in ΛΟΓΕΙΟΝ [Logeion] Dictionaries for Ancient Greek and Latin (in English, French, Spanish, German, Dutch and Chinese), University of Chicago, since 2011

Greek

Noun

νίκη • (níki) f (plural νίκες)

1. victory

Declension

Declension of νίκη

	singular	plural
nominative	νίκη (níki)	νίκες (níkes)
genitive	νίκης (níkis)	νικών (nikón)
accusative	νίκη (níki)	νίκες (níkes)
vocative	νίκη (níki)	νίκες (níkes)

Derived terms

• νικώ (nikó, “to defeat”)
• νικητής m (nikitís, “winner, victor”)
• νικήτρια f (nikítria, “winner, victor”)
• νικηφόρος (nikifóros, “victorious”)
• νικητήριος (nikitírios, “winning”)