πλόος

• πλοῦς (ploûs) — Attic

An o-grade verbal noun from the root of πλέω (pléō, “to sail”) + -ος (-os).

πλόος • (plóos) m (genitive πλόου); second declension (Attic, Epic, Ionic, Laconian)

1. sailing; voyage
   • c. 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Odyssey 3.169:

     ἐν Λέσβῳ δ’ ἔκιχεν δολιχὸν πλόον ὁρμαίνοντας

     en Lésbōi d’ ékikhen dolikhòn plóon hormaínontas

     on Lesbos [Menelaus] overtook [us] while we were pondering the long voyage

   • 460 BCE – 430 BCE, Herodotus, Histories 2.29.3:

     τὸ δὲ χωρίον τοῦτο ἐστὶ ἐπ’ ἡμέρας τέσσερας πλόος

     tò dè khōríon toûto estì ep’ hēméras tésseras plóos

     This area is a four days' journey by boat

2. one's intended course
   • 522 BCE – 443 BCE, Pindar, Pythian Ode 11.39–40:

     ἤ μέ τις ἄνεμος ἔξω πλόου
     ἔβαλεν […]

     ḗ mé tis ánemos éxō plóou
     ébalen […]

     or some wind threw me off course

   • 428 BCE – 347 BCE, Plato, Laws 803b:

     ποίᾳ μηχανῇ καὶ τίσιν ποτὲ τρόποις συνόντες τὸν βίον ἄριστα διὰ τοῦ πλοῦ τούτου τῆς ζωῆς διακομισθησόμεθα

     poíāi mēkhanēî kaì tísin potè trópois sunóntes tòn bíon árista dià toû ploû toútou tês zōês diakomisthēsómetha

     • 1967 translation by R.G. Bury

       by what means and by what modes of living we shall best navigate our barque of life through this voyage of existence

3. the time for sailing
   • c. 750 BCE – 650 BCE, Hesiod, Works and Days 630:

     αὐτὸς δ’ ὡραῖον μίμνειν πλόον, εἰς ὅ κεν ἔλθῃ

     autòs d’ hōraîon mímnein plóon, eis hó ken élthēi

     Wait for the right sailing season to come

   • c. 750 BCE – 650 BCE, Hesiod, Works and Days 678:

     ἄλλος δ’ εἰαρινὸς πέλεται πλόος ἀνθρώποισιν

     állos d’ eiarinòs péletai plóos anthrṓpoisin

     Another sailing season for men is in the spring.

• πλόος in Cunliffe, Richard J. (1924), A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect: Expanded Edition, Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, published 1963
• “πλόος”, in Liddell & Scott (1940), A Greek–English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press