πείθομαι

πείθομαι

Grammatical information: v.

Meaning: `to trust, to rely, to obey, to be persuaded' (Il.).

Other forms: Fut. πείσομαι, aor. πιθέσθαι, πεπιθέσθαι, perf. πέποιθα (all Il.), aor. pass. πεισθῆναι, fut. -θήσομαι, perf. πέπεισ-μαι (Att.), midd. πείσασθαι (hell.), aor. ptc. πιθήσας (Il.), fut. πιθήσω (φ 369; on the explanation below s. ἀπιθής); act. πείθω, πείσω, πεπιθεῖν w. fut. πεπιθήσω, πεῖσαι (all Il.), πιθεῖν (Pi., A.), πέπεικα (young Att.) `convince, persuade'.

Compounds: Also w. prefix, e.g. ἀνα-, ἐπι-, παρα-, συν-. As 1. member in governing compp. like πείθ-αρχ-ος `obedient to the authorities' (A.) with -ία, -έω a.o. (Att.), Πεισί-στρατος PN; as 2. member after the σ-stems a.o. in ἀ-, εὑ-π(ε)ιθής (Thgn., A., Att.) with aor. ἀπίθ-ησε (Il.), fut. ἀπιθ-ήσω (Κ 129, Ω 300); after it the metr. easy πιθήσας with πιθήσω (diff. Chantraine Gramm. hom. 1, 446).

Derivatives: A. From root-aorist: 1. πιστός `faithful, reliable, credible' (Il.) with πιστό-της f. `faith' (IA.), πιστ-εύω (δια-, κατα- a.o.) `to rely, to trust, to believe, to confide' (IA.), from which -ευμα, -ευσις, -ευτικός; πιστ-όομαι (κατα-, συν-, προ-), -όω `to trust entirely, to warrant, to assure; to make reliable' (Il.) with -ωμα, -ωσις, -ωτής, -ωτικός. 2. πίστις f. `faith, trust, authentication, assurance' (IA.) with πιστι-κός `faithful' (Plu., Vett. Val.; if not for πειστικός; s. below). 3. πιθανός `trustworthy, reliable, believable, obedient' (IA.) with πιθαν-ότης, -όω (Pl., Arist.). 4. πί-συνος `relying on somebody or something' (mostly ep. poet. Il.), prob. after θάρσυνος (Schwyzer 491, Wyss -συνη 13ff.). -- B. From present: 1. Πειθώ f. `(goddess of) persuasion, conviction, obedience' (Hes.), from there Boeot. aor. ἐπί-θωσε, -σαν (III<sup>a</sup>)?; Bechtel Dial. 1, 308 w. lit. 2. πειθός `(easily) pesuading, persuasive' (Ep. Cor.). 3. πειθήμων `obedient, persuasive' (late epic). -- C. From present resp. σ-aor. (younger): 1. πεῖσα f. `obedient' (ἐν πείσῃ υ 23), like δόξα?; Chantraine Form. 100 a. 435, Schwyzer 516. 2. -πειστος as 2. member εὔ-, δυσανά-, ἀμετά-πειστος a.o. (Att.) opposed to older ἄπιστος. 3. πειστ-ικός `fit for persuasion, convincing' (Pl., Arist.), -ήριος `id.' (E.). 4. πεῖσ-μα n. `conviction, confidence' (Plu., Arr., S. E.), -μονή f. `id.' (Ep. Gal., pap.). 5. πεῖσις (παρά-, κατά- πείθομαι) f. `conviction etc.' (Plot., Hdn., sch.); cf. older πίστις and Fraenkel Glotta 32, 27 w. lit. 6. πειστήρ m. `someone who obeys' (Suid.) 7. Πειστίχη f. surn. of Aphrodite (Delos; on the χ-suffix Chantraine Form. 404). -- D. From perfect: πεποίθ-ησις f. `trust' (LXX, Phld.), -ίαν ἐλπίδα, προσδοκίαν H.; cf. Scheller Oxytonierung 40.

Origin: IE [Indo-European] [117] *bʰidʰ- `convince, trust'

Etymology: With πείθω agrees formally exactly the Lat. themat. root-present fīdō, -ere, IE *bheidh-ō; semant. agrees however the Lat. verb with middle πείθομαι (cf. confīsus sum). Formal identity we find also with the Germ. verb for `wait' in Goth. beidan, OHG bītan etc.; the semantic cleft ('wait (for)' from `trust' or `conform, restrain' ?) is however not yet bridged. The causative too Goth. baidjan `compel', OHG beitten etc. `urge, demand' is semantically divergent; after Specht KZ 66, 205 ff. an agreeing. Gr. *ποιθέω (to which the reduplicated aor. πεπιθεῖν) would have been replaced by act. πείθω. -- The Greek system including the nominal forms is quite explainable from itself; the various adduced nouns, esp. from Lat., like fīdus (formally = the innovated πειθός), fĭdēs, foedus (not to εὑ-πειθής or to πεῖσα), to which perh. also Alb. bē f. `oath' and OCS běda `need' (IE *bhoidhā), do not help understand the Greek forms. Quite doubtful is the connection of πιστός with Alb. besë f. `belief, treaty, faithfulness', appar. from *bhidh-tā f. (= *πιστη; Hamp KZ 77, 252f.); besë rather innovation (Jokl in W.-Hofmann). -- Further forms w. rich lit. in WP. 2, 139f., 185, Pok. 117, W.-Hofmann s. fīdō. Details on form and meaning of πείθομαι and derivv. in S. Schulz Die Wurzel πειθ- (πιθ-) im älteren Griechischen. Diss. Bern 1952.

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