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δύνα^μις [υ^], ἡ, gen. εως, Ion. ιος, Ion. dat. δυνάμι : (δύναμαι):—
A.power, might, in Hom., esp. of bodily strength, “εἴ μοι δ. γε παρείη” Od. 2.62, cf. Il.8.294; “οἵη ἐμὴ δ. καὶ χεῖρες” Od.20.237; “ἡ δ. τῶν νέων” Antipho 4.3.2, etc.: generally, strength, power, ability to do anything, πὰρ δύναμιν beyond one's strength, Il.13.787; in Prose, “παρὰ δ. τολμηταί” Th.1.70, etc.; “ὑπὲρ δ.” D.18.193; opp. κατὰ δ. as far as lies in one, Hdt.3.142, etc. (“κὰδ δ.” Hes.Op.336); “εἰς δύναμιν” Cratin. 172, Pl.R. 458e, etc.; “πρὸς τὴν δ.” Id.Phdr.231a.
2. outward power, influence, authority, A.Pers.174 (anap.), Ag.779 (lyr.); “καταπαύσαντα τὴν Κύρου δ.” Hdt.1.90; “δυνάμει προὔχοντες” Th.7.21, etc.; ἐν δ. εἶναι, γενέσθαι, X.HG4.4.5, D.13.29.
3. force for war, forces, “δ. ἀνδρῶν” Hdt.5.100, cf. Pl.Mx.240d, Plb.1.41.2, LXX Ge.21.22, OGI139.8 (ii B. C.); μετὰ δυνάμεων ἱκανῶν Wilcken Chr.10 (ii B. C.), etc.; “δ. καὶ πεζὴ καὶ ἱππικὴ καὶ ναυτική” X.An.1.3.12; πέντε δυνάμεσι πεφρουρημένον, of the five projecting rows of sarissae in the phalanx, Ascl.Tact.5.2,al.
4. a power, quantity, “χρημάτων δ.” Hdt.7.9.ά.
5. means, “κατὰ δύναμιν” Arist.EE1243b12; opp. παρὰ δ., 2 Ep.Cor.8.3; “κατὰ δ. τῶν ὑπαρχόντων” BGU1051.17 (Aug.).
II. power, faculty, capacity, “αἱ ἀμφὶ τὸ σῶμα δ.” Hp.VM14; “αἱ τοῦ σώματος δυνάμεις” Pl.Tht.185e; “ἡ τῆς ὄψεως δ.” Id.R. 532a; “ἡ τῶν λεγόντων δ.” D.22.11: c. gen. rei, capacity for, “τῶν ἔργων” Arist.Pol.1309a35; “τοῦ λέγειν” Id.Rh.1362b22; τοῦ λόγου, τῶν λόγων, Men.578, Alex.94; “δ. στρατηγική” Plb.1.84.6; “δ. ἐν πραγματείᾳ” Id.2.56.5; “δ. συνθετική” D.H.Comp.2: abs., any natural capacity or faculty, that may be improved and may be used for good or ill, Arist.Top. 126a37, cf. MM1183b28.
2. elementary force, such as heat, cold, etc., Hp.VM16, Arist.PA646a14; ἡ τοῦ θερμοῦ δ.ib.650a5; “θερμαντικὴ δ.” Epicur.Fr.60, cf. Polystr.p.23 W.
b. property, quality, “ἰδίην δύναμιν καὶ φύσιν ἔχειν” Hp.VM13, cf. Nat.Hom.5, Vict.1.10; esp. of the natural properties of plants, etc., αἱ δ. τῶν φυομένων, τῶν σπερμάτων, X.Cyr.8.8.14, Thphr.HP8.11.1; productive power, “τῆς γῆς” Id.Oec.16.4; “μετάλλων” Id.Vect.4.1: generally, function, faculty, δύναμις φυσική, ζωική, ψυχική, Gal.10.635; περὶ φυσικῶν δ., title of work by Galen.
c. in pl., agencies, ὑπάρχειν ἐν τῇ φύσει τὰς τοιαύτας δυνάμεις (sc. the gods) Polystr.p.10 W.
d. function, meaning, of part in whole, Id.p.17 W.
e. in Music, function, value, of a note in the scale, “δ. ἐστι τάξις φθόγγου ἐν συστήματι” Cleonid.Harm.14, cf. Aristox.Harm.p.69M.; μέση κατὰ δύναμιν, opp. κατὰ θέσιν, Ptol. Harm.2.5.
3. faculty, art, or craft, Pl.R.532d, Arist.Metaph. 1018a30, EN1094a10, Arr.Epict.1.1.1; δ. σκεπτική the doctrine of the Sceptics, S.E.M.7.1.
4. a medicine, Timostr.7, etc.; “δ. ἁπλαῖ” Hp.Decent.9, Aret.CD1.4, etc.; “δ. πολυφάρμακοι” Plu.2.403c, Gal.13.365: in pl., collection of formulae or prescriptions, Orib.10.33.
b. action of medicines, περὶ τῆς ἁπλῶν φαρμάκων δ., title of work by Galen; also, potency, δυνάμει θερμά, ψυχρά, Id.1.672, al.
5. magically potent substance or object, PMag.Leid.V.8.12: in pl., magical powers, Hld.4.7.
III. force or meaning of a word, Lys.10.7, Pl. Cra.394b, Diog.Oen.12, Phld.Sign.31, etc.
b. phonetic value of sounds or letters, Plb.10.47.8, D.H.Comp.12, Luc.Jud.Voc.5, etc.
2. worth or value of money, Th.6.46,2.97, Plu.Lyc.9, Sol. 15.
IV. capability of existing or acting, potentiality, opp. actuality (ἐνέργεια), Arist.Metaph.1047b31, 1051a5, etc.: hence δυνάμει as Adv., virtually, “ὕστερον ὂν τῇ τάξει, πρότερον τῇ δυνάμει . . ἐστί” D.3.15; opp. ἐνεργείᾳ, Arist.APo.86a28, al.; opp. ἐντελεχείᾳ, Id.Ph.193b8, al.
V. Math., power, “κατὰ μεταφορὰν ἡ ἐν γεωμετρίᾳ λέγεται δ.” Id.Metaph.1019b33; usu. second power, square, κατὰ δύναμιν in square, Pl.Ti.54b, cf. Theol.Ar.11, etc.: chiefly in dat., [εὐθεῖα] δυνάμει ἴση a line the square on which is equal to an area, ἡ BA ἐλάσσων ἐστὶν ἢ διπλασίων δυνάμει τῆς AK the square on BA is less than double of the square on AK, Archim.Sph.Cyl.2.9: εὐθεῖαι δ. σύμμετροι commensurable in square, Euc.10Def.2; ἡ δυνάμει δεκάς the series 12 + 22 . . . + 102, Theol.Ar.64.
b. square number, Pl.Ti.32a.
c. square of an unknown quantity (x2), Dioph.Def.2, al.
2. square root of a number which is not a perfect square, surd, opp. μῆκος, Pl. Tht.147d.
3. product of two numbers, ἡ ἀμφοῖν (sc. τριάδος καὶ δυάδος）“ δ. ἑξάς” Ph.1.3, cf. Iamb.in Nic.p.108 P.; δυνάμει in product, Hero Metr.1.15, Theol.Ar.33.
VI. concrete, powers, esp. of divine beings, “αἱ δ. τῶν οὐρανῶν” LXX Is.34.4, cf. 1 Ep.Pet.3.22, al., Ph.1.587, Corp.Herm.1.26, Porph.Abst.2.34: sg., Act.Ap.8.10, PMag.Par.1.1275; πολυώνυμος δ., of God, Secund.Sent.3.
VII. manifestation of divine power, miracle, Ev.Matt.11.21, al., Buresch Aus Lydien 113, etc.
Henry George Liddell. Robert Scott. A Greek-English Lexicon. revised and augmented throughout by. Sir Henry Stuart Jones. with the assistance of. Roderick McKenzie. Oxford. Clarendon Press. 1940.

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  • Cross-references in general dictionaries from this page (54):
    • Aeschylus, Agamemnon, 779
    • Aeschylus, Persians, 174
    • Antiphon, Third Tetralogy, 3.2
    • Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics, 1094a.10
    • Demosthenes, Olynthiac 3, 15
    • Demosthenes, On the Crown, 193
    • Demosthenes, On Organization, 29
    • Demosthenes, Against Androtion, 11
    • Euclid, Elements, 10
    • Herodotus, Histories, 5.100
    • Herodotus, Histories, 1.90
    • Herodotus, Histories, 3.142
    • Herodotus, Histories, 7.9
    • Hesiod, Works and Days, 336
    • Homer, Iliad, 8.294
    • Homer, Odyssey, 2.62
    • Lysias, Against Theomnestus 1, 7
    • New Testament, Acts, 8.10
    • Old Testament, Genesis, 21.22
    • New Testament, 2 Corinthians, 8.3
    • Plato, Republic, 532a
    • Plato, Republic, 532d
    • Plato, Republic, 458e
    • Plato, Cratylus, 394b
    • Plato, Theaetetus, 185e
    • Plato, Theaetetus, 147d
    • Plato, Phaedrus, 231a
    • Plato, Timaeus, 32a
    • Plato, Menexenus, 240d
    • Plato, Timaeus, 54b
    • Thucydides, Histories, 1.70
    • Thucydides, Histories, 6.46
    • Xenophon, Anabasis, 1.3.12
    • Xenophon, Cyropaedia, 8.8.14
    • Xenophon, Hellenica, 4.4.5
    • Homer, Iliad, 13.787
    • Homer, Odyssey, 20.237
    • Polybius, Histories, 10.47.8
    • Polybius, Histories, 1.41.2
    • Polybius, Histories, 1.84.6
    • Polybius, Histories, 2.56.5
    • Hippocrates, De prisca medicina, 16
    • Hippocrates, De prisca medicina, 13
    • Hippocrates, De prisca medicina, 14
    • Aretaeus, De curatione diuturnorum morborum libri duo, 1.4
    • New Testament, 1 Peter, 3.22
    • Old Testament, Isaiah, 34.4
    • Thucydides, Histories, 2.97
    • Thucydides, Histories, 7.21
    • Plutarch, Solon, 15
    • Plutarch, Lycurgus, 9
    • Lucian, Judicium vocalium, 5
    • Dionysius of Halicarnassus, De Compositione Verborum, 12
    • Dionysius of Halicarnassus, De Compositione Verborum, 2
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