Ancient Greek

Verb

ᾰ̓νᾰβαίνω • ‎(anabaínō)

1. (transitive, intransitive) I go up, mount
   • 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Iliad 1.497

     ἠερίη δ᾽ ἀνέβη μέγαν οὐρανὸν Οὔλυμπόν τε

     And at early morning she went up to great heaven and Olympus.

   • 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Odyssey 6.29

     ἐκ γάρ τοι τούτων φάτις ἀνθρώπους ἀναβαίνει ἐσθλή

     It is from things like these that good report goeth up among men.

   • 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Iliad 10.493

     νεκροῖς ἀμβαίνοντες

     as they trod over dead men

   • 460 BCE – 420 BCE, Herodotus, Histories 1.131.2

     οἳ δὲ νομίζουσι Διὶ μὲν ἐπὶ τὰ ὑψηλότατα τῶν ὀρέων ἀναβαίνοντες θυσίας ἔρδειν

     they customarily go up onto the highest parts of the mountains to make sacrifices

   1. (transitive, intransitive) I board a ship, embark
      • 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Odyssey 1.210

        πρίν γε τὸν ἐς Τροίην ἀναβήμεναι

        before he embarked for the land of Troy

   2. (intransitive) I mount
      • 430 BCE – 354 BCE, Xenophon, Cyropaedia 4.1.7

        ἀναβὰς ἐπὶ τὸν ἵππον ἤλασε καὶ πρὸς Κυαξάρην ἐλθὼν

        he mounted his horse and rode away to Cyaxares

   3. (of rivers, intransitive) I rise
      • 460 BCE – 420 BCE, Herodotus, Histories 2.13.1

        εἰ μὴ ἐπ᾽ ἑκκαίδεκα [...] πήχεας ἀναβῇ τὸ ἐλάχιστον ὁ ποταμός

        if the river does not rise at least twenty six [...] feet

   4. (intransitive) I shoot up (rise rapidly)
      • 430 BCE – 354 BCE, Xenophon, Oeconomicus 19.18

        αὐτίκα ἄμπελος ἀναβαίνουσα μὲν ἐπὶ τὰ δένδρα

        For instance, the vine climbs the trees

   5. (Attic, intransitive, often with ἐπὶ τὸ βῆμα ‎(epì tò bêma)) I mount the tribune, i.e. rise to speak
      • 330 BCE, Demosthenes, On the Crown 66

        ἐκ παντὸς τοῦ χρόνου μέχρι τῆς ἡμέρας ἀφ᾽ ἧς αὐτὸς ἐπὶ τὸ βῆμ᾽ ἀνέβην

        from the dawn of history to the day when I first ascended the tribune

   6. (of animals, transitive, intransitive) I mount (i.e. to mate)
      • 460 BCE – 420 BCE, Herodotus, Histories 1.192.3
      • 446 BCE – 386 BCE, Aristophanes, Fragments 329
      • 280 BCE – 220 BCE, Philo of Byzantium, Compendium of Mechanics 1.651
   7. (of age)
      • 50 CE – 150 CE, Achilles Tatius, Leucippe and Clitophon 1.7
   8. (intransitive) I ascend to higher knowledge
      • 490 CE – 560 CE, Simplicius, On Aristotle's Physics 15.34
      • 490 CE – 560 CE, Simplicius, On Aristotle's Physics 9.30
      • 50 CE – 150 CE, Soranus, Collected Works 2.5
   9. (transitive) I surpass
      • 490 CE – 600 CE, John the Lydian, De Ostentis 22
2. (of events) I turn out
   • 460 BCE – 420 BCE, Herodotus, Histories 7.10.2

     καὶ ἢν μὲν τῇ σὺ λέγεις ἀναβαίνῃ βασιλέι τὰ πρήγματα

     If the king's fortunes fare as you say

   • 430 BCE – 354 BCE, Xenophon, Constitution of the Athenians 2.17

     καὶ ἂν μέν τι κακὸν ἀναβαίνῃ ἀπὸ ὧν ὁ δῆμος ἐβούλευσεν

     And if anything bad results from the people's plans

   1. (intransitive, with καρδία ‎(kardía)) I enter into one's heart
      • 50 CE – 100 CE, The Gospel of Luke 24.38

        καὶ διὰ τί διαλογισμοὶ ἀναβαίνουσιν ἐν τῇ καρδίᾳ ὑμῶν;

        "Why do doubts arise in your hearts?"

   2. (intransitive) I come to, pass to
      • 460 BCE – 420 BCE, Herodotus, Histories 7.205.1

        οὕτω δὴ ἐς Λεωνίδην ἀνέβαινε ἡ βασιληίη

        The kingship therefore passed to Leonidas

3. (intransitive) I go back
   • 460 BCE – 370 BCE, Democritus, Collected Works 144.a
   • 161 CE – 180 CE, Hermogenes, On Invention 2.2

Inflection

Derived terms

Related terms

Antonyms

• καταβαίνω ‎(katabaínō)

References

• ἀναβαίνω in Liddell & Scott (1940) A Greek–English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• ἀναβαίνω in Liddell & Scott (1889) An Intermediate Greek–English Lexicon, New York: Harper & Brothers
• ἀναβαίνω in Autenrieth, Georg (1891) A Homeric Dictionary for Schools and Colleges, New York: Harper and Brothers
• «ἀναβαίνω» in Bailly, Anatole (1935) Le Grand Bailly: Dictionnaire grec-français, Paris: Hachette
• «ἀναβαίνω» in Cunliffe, Richard J. (1924) A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect: Expanded Edition, Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, published 1963
• «ἀναβαίνω» in the Diccionario Griego–Español en línea (© 2006–2016)
• ἀναβαίνω in Slater, William J. (1969) Lexicon to Pindar, Berlin: Walter de Gruyter
• “G305”, in Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance to the Bible, 1979