Διδώ

See also: Dido, δίδω, and dido

Ancient Greek

Alternative forms

Δειδώ (Deidṓ)

Etymology

Probably a Phoenician honorary title related to Hebrew דּוֹדָה (doda, “aunt”) or from the same Proto-Semitic verbal root *d-w-d ~ *w-d-d (“to love”) as Hebrew דָּוִד (dāwiḏ, “David”).

Pronunciation

(5^th BCE Attic) IPA^(key): /diː.dɔ̌ː/
(1^st CE Egyptian) IPA^(key): /diˈdo/
(4^th CE Koine) IPA^(key): /ðiˈðo/
(10^th CE Byzantine) IPA^(key): /ðiˈðo/
(15^th CE Constantinopolitan) IPA^(key): /ðiˈðo/

Proper noun

Δῑδώ • (Dīdṓ) f (genitive Δῑδοῦς); third declension

Dido (legendary foundress and queen of Carthage)
64 BCE – 24 CE, Strabo, Geography 17.3.15
Κτίσμα δ’ ἐστὶ Διδοῦς ἀγαγούσης ἐκ Τύρου λαόν·
It (Carthage)^[1] was a colony founded by Dido who led her people from Tyre...
- 125 CE – 200 CE, Lucian, The Dance 46
- 95 CE – 165 CE, Appian, Punic Wars 1
- 170 CE – 240 CE, Herodian, History of the Empire from the Death of Marcus 5.6.4
- Macr., Sat. 5.17.4
- Macr., AP 16.151
- Io.Mal., Chron. M.97.265B
- 1115 – 1195, Eustathius Thessalonicensis, in D.P. 195

Declension

Third declension of ἡ Δῑδώ; τῆς Δῑδοῦς (Attic)

Case / #	Singular
Nominative	ἡ Δῑδώ hē Dīdṓ
Genitive	τῆς Δῑδοῦς tês Dīdoûs
Dative	τῇ Δῑδοῖ tēî Dīdoî
Accusative	τὴν Δῑδώ tḕn Dīdṓ
Vocative	Δῑδοῖ Dīdoî
Notes:	This table gives Attic inflectional endings. For declension in other dialects, see Appendix:Ancient Greek dialectal declension.

Third declension of ἡ Δῑδώ; τῆς Δῑδοῦς (Ionic)

Case / #	Singular
Nominative	ἡ Δῑδώ hē Dīdṓ
Genitive	τῆς Δῑδοῦς tês Dīdoûs
Dative	τῇ Δῑδοῖ tēî Dīdoî
Accusative	τὴν Δῑδοῦν tḕn Dīdoûn
Vocative	Δῑδοῖ Dīdoî
Notes:	Dialects other than Attic are not well attested. Some forms may be based on conjecture. Use with caution.

Synonyms

(Dido: legendary foundress and queen of Carthage): Ἔλισσᾰ (Élissă)

Descendants

→ Latin: Dīdō
→ English: Dido

References

Διδώ in Bailly, Anatole (1935), Le Grand Bailly: Dictionnaire grec-français, Paris: Hachette
Δῑδώ in the Diccionario Griego–Español en línea (2006–2026)
Διδώ, in ΛΟΓΕΙΟΝ [Logeion] Dictionaries for Ancient Greek and Latin (in English, French, Spanish, German, Dutch and Chinese), University of Chicago, since 2011
- Search the corpus for this lemma: Διδώ in PhiloLogic4 concordance (in ancient Greek). ARTFL Project, University of Chicago, viewed December 4, 2025.]
Strabo, Geography, 17.3.15 (in ancient Greek). Meineke, A., ed. (1877). Geographica. Leipzig: Teubner. In Perseus Digital Library.
Strabo, Geography, 17.3.15 (in English translation).] In Hamilton, H.C., and Falconer, W., trans. (1903), The Geography of Strabo. Literally translated, with notes, in three volumes. London. George Bell & Sons.
*w-d-d in Semitic Roots Repository.

Footnotes

^ See Καρχηδὼν ("Carthage") in Strabo, Geography, 17.3.14 (in ancient Greek) or (in English translation)