ψύχω

Uncertain. Could be from a Proto-Indo-European *bʰes- (“to blow”), with cognates including Sanskrit भस्त्रा॑ (bhástrā, “bellows”), अप्सु॑ (ápsu, “without breath”), and Albanian badër. Beekes is skeptical of an Indo-European derivation and argues for a Pre-Greek origin.^[1]

Compare also Proto-Circassian *psa, Proto-Northwest Caucasian *pǝsA (literally “soul”).

ψῡ́χω • (psū́khō)

1. to breathe; to blow

   Synonym: πνέω (pnéō)

   • c. 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Iliad 20.440:

     καὶ τό γ’ Ἀθήνη
     πνοιῇ Ἀχιλλῆος πάλιν ἔτραπε κυδαλίμοιο
     ἦκα μάλα ψύξασα

     kaì tó g’ Athḗnē
     pnoiēî Akhillêos pálin étrape kudalímoio
     êka mála psúxasa

     but Athene with a breath turned it back from glorious Achilles, breathing full lightly

2. to chill (to make cold)
   • 460 BCE – 430 BCE, Herodotus, Histories 3.104.3:

     καὶ τὸ ἀπὸ τούτου ἀπιὼν ἐπὶ μᾶλλον ψύχει

     kaì tò apò toútou apiṑn epì mâllon psúkhei

     as day declines [the sun] makes it ever cooler

   • 460 BCE – 430 BCE, Herodotus, Histories 4.181.4:

     παρέρχονται τε μέσαι νύκτες καὶ ψύχεται μέχρι ἐς ἠῶ

     parérkhontai te mésai núktes kaì psúkhetai mékhri es ēô

     after midnight it becomes cooler until dawn

   1. to cool; torefresh
      • Tragica Adespota 7.2
      • c. 250 BCE – 170 BCE, Nicander, Theriaca 473
      • 300 BCE – 200 BCE, Septuagint, 2 Kings 19.24
   2. (passive voice, figuratively) to be frigid
      • 213 CE – 273 CE, Cassius Longinus, Collected Works 27.1
3. (transitive) to dry

   Alternative form: ψῡ́γω (psū́gō)

   • 430 BCE – 354 BCE, Xenophon, Cynegeticus 5.3:

     ποιοῦσι δύσοσμον, ἕως ἂν ψυχθῇ

     poioûsi dúsosmon, héōs àn psukhthēî

     [storms] make the earth bad for scent until it dries

• “ψύχω”, in Liddell & Scott (1940), A Greek–English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “ψύχω”, in Liddell & Scott (1889), An Intermediate Greek–English Lexicon, New York: Harper & Brothers
• “ψύχω”, in Autenrieth, Georg (1891), A Homeric Dictionary for Schools and Colleges, New York: Harper and Brothers
• ψύχω in Bailly, Anatole (1935), Le Grand Bailly: Dictionnaire grec-français, Paris: Hachette
• Bauer, Walter et al. (2001), A Greek–English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature, Third edition, Chicago: University of Chicago Press
• ψύχω in Cunliffe, Richard J. (1924), A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect: Expanded Edition, Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, published 1963
• G5594 in Strong, James (1979), Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance to the Bible
• ψύχω, in ΛΟΓΕΙΟΝ [Logeion] Dictionaries for Ancient Greek and Latin (in English, French, Spanish, German, Dutch and Chinese), University of Chicago, since 2011

Inherited from Ancient Greek ψύχω (psúkhō).

ψύχω • (psýcho) (past έψυξα, passive ψύχομαι, ppp ψύχθηκα)

1. (transitive) to chill, freeze

• ψύχω, in Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής [Dictionary of Standard Modern Greek], Triantafyllidis Foundation, 1998 at the Centre for the Greek language