οἶκτος

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οἶκτος • (oîktos) m (genitive οἴκτου); second declension

1. pity, compassion
   • 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Odyssey 2.81:

     οἶκτος δ’ ἕλε λαὸν ἅπαντα

     oîktos d’ héle laòn hápanta

     pity took hold of the entire people

   • 460 BCE – 420 BCE, Herodotus, Histories 5.92:

     καὶ τὸν φρασθέντα τοῦτο οἶκτός τις ἴσχει ἀποκτεῖναι

     kaì tòn phrasthénta toûto oîktós tis ískhei apokteînai

     and a certain compassion kept the one saying this from killing

   • 460 BCE – 395 BCE, Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War 3.40:

     μηδὲ τρισὶ τοῖς ἀξυμφορωτάτοις τῇ ἀρχῇ, οἴκτῳ καὶ ἡδονῇ λόγων καὶ ἐπιεικείᾳ, ἁμαρτάνειν

     mēdè trisì toîs axumphorōtátois têi arkhêi, oíktōi kaì hēdonêi lógōn kaì epieikeíāi, hamartánein

2. wailing
   • 467 BCE, Aeschylus, Seven Against Thebes 51:

     οἶκτος δ’ οὔτις ἦν διὰ στόμα

     oîktos d’ oútis ên dià stóma

     there was no wailing from a mouth

   • 458 BCE, Aeschylus, The Libation Bearers 411:

     τόνδε κλύουσαν οἶκτον

     tónde klúousan oîkton

     hearing this wailing

• (pity): ἐλεημοσῠ́νη (eleēmosúnē), ἔλεος (éleos), ἐλεητύς (eleētús), οἰκτιρμός (oiktirmós)

• οἰκτίζω (oiktízō)
• ἄνοικτος (ánoiktos)

• οἴζω (oízō)
• οἰκτρός (oiktrós)
• οἰκτείρω (oikteírō)
• οἰκτιρμός (oiktirmós)

• “οἶκτος”, in Liddell & Scott (1940) A Greek–English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press