σκέπτομαι

From Proto-Hellenic *sképťomai, from Proto-Indo-European *skep-ye-, from a metathesis of *speḱ-. Cognate with Latin speciō.^[1]

Compare typologically Russian рассма́тривать (rassmátrivatʹ, “to look at, to peruse, to examine; to regard, to consider”) (akin to смотре́ть (smotrétʹ)) and German betrachten (“to look at, to behold; to regard, to consider, look upon something in a certain way”).

σκέπτομαι • (sképtomai)

1. to look at, examine
   • 428 BCE, Euripides, Hippolytus 943:

     σκέψασθε δ’ ἐς τόνδ’

     sképsasthe d’ es tónd’

     Look at this man

   • c. 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Odyssey 12.247:

     σκεψάμενος δ’ ἐς νῆα θοὴν ἅμα καὶ μεθ’ ἑταίρους

     skepsámenos d’ es nêa thoḕn háma kaì meth’ hetaírous

     Looking at once at both ship and men

2. to examine, consider, think
   • c. 445 BCE, Sophocles, Ajax 1028:

     σκέψασθε, πρὸς θεῶν, τὴν τύχην δυοῖν βροτοῖν.

     sképsasthe, pròs theôn, tḕn túkhēn duoîn brotoîn.

     Consider, by the gods, the fortune of these two men.

   • 431 BCE – 404 BCE, Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War 6.38:

     καὶ δῆτα, ὃ πολλάκις ἐσκεψάμην, τί καὶ βούλεσθε, ὦ νεώτεροι;

     kaì dêta, hò pollákis eskepsámēn, tí kaì boúlesthe, ô neṓteroi?

     And after all, as I have often asked, what would you have, young men?

   1. (rarely) to think, deem
      • 428 BCE – 347 BCE, Plato, Laws 854c:

        καλλίω θάνατον σκεψάμενος

        kallíō thánaton skepsámenos

        deeming death the more noble way

   2. to prepare, premeditate
      • 384 BCE – 322 BCE, Demosthenes, Against Timocrates 158:

        καὶ τοιούτους λόγους σχολὴν ἄγοντ’ ἐσκέφθαι περὶ πάντων ὥστ’ εὖ εἰδέναι

        kaì toioútous lógous skholḕn ágont’ esképhthai perì pántōn hṓst’ eû eidénai

        and he has thought out at leisure such fine arguments on every point

      • 349 BCE, Demosthenes, First Olynthiac 1:

        οὐ γὰρ μόνον εἴ τι χρήσιμον ἐσκεμμένος ἥκει τις,

        ou gàr mónon eí ti khrḗsimon eskemménos hḗkei tis,

        For not only if someone comes forward with a well-considered plan,

The present and imperfect are suppleted from σκοπέω (skopéō) in Attic.

• > Greek: σκέφτομαι (skéftomai) (inherited)
• → Greek: σκέπτομαι (sképtomai) (learned)

• “σκέπτομαι”, in Liddell & Scott (1940), A Greek–English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• σκέπτομαι in Bailly, Anatole (1935), Le Grand Bailly: Dictionnaire grec-français, Paris: Hachette
• σκέπτομαι in Cunliffe, Richard J. (1924), A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect: Expanded Edition, Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, published 1963
• σκέπτομαι, in ΛΟΓΕΙΟΝ [Logeion] Dictionaries for Ancient Greek and Latin (in English, French, Spanish, German, Dutch and Chinese), University of Chicago, since 2011

Learned borrowing from Ancient Greek σκέπτομαι (sképtomai). Compare to the inherited σκέφτομαι (skéftomai).^[1]

• IPA^(key): /ˈsce.pto.me/
• Hyphenation: σκέ‧πτο‧μαι

σκέπτομαι • (sképtomai) deponent (past σκέφθηκα) (σκέφτηκα as from σκέφτομαι (skéftomai))

1. (formal) formal or dated form of σκέφτομαι (skéftomai)

Mainly found in compounds

• διασκέπτομαι (diasképtomai)
• επισκέπτομαι (episképtomai)
• συνδιασκέπτομαι (syndiasképtomai)
• συσκέπτομαι (sysképtomai)

For past tense σκέφτηκα (skéftika) and forms with -φτ- see σκέφτομαι (skéftomai)

• σκεπτόμενος (skeptómenos, “one who is thinking”, participle)