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κωφ-ός , ή, όν,
A.blunt, dull, obtuse, opp. “ὀξύς, κ. βέλος” Il.11.390, cf. E.Fr.495.27; “κ. καλάμη” AP12.25 (Stat.Flacc.).
II. metaph.,
1. of sound, mute, noiseless, “κύματι κωφῷ” Il.14.16; κωφὴν γὰρ δὴ γαῖαν ἀεικίζει is maltreating dumb, senseless earth, 24.54; τὰ μὲν ἄλλα ἔσκε κωφά the other parts sounded dull, opp. to the ringing of the hollow parts when struck, Hdt.4.200: neut. pl. as Adv., “κωφὰ δὲ πόντος κεῖτο” Orph.A.1103; ὁ κ. λιμήν, prob. the bay of Munychia, as opp. to the noisy Piraeus, X.HG2.4.31; κωφότερος ὁ ψόφος ἔσται, i.e. muffled, Aen.Tact.19; τῶν μεταλλικῶν κωφότατος [ὁ σίδηρος] rings least, Plu.2.721f; “κωφοὶ ἄνεμοι” D.S.3.51.
2. after Hom., of men or animals, dumb, Parm.6.7, etc.; καὶ κωφοῦ συνίημι καὶ οὐ φωνεῦντος ἀκούω Orac. ap. Hdt.1.47; οὐ . . παρὰ κωφὸν ὁ τυφλὸς ἔοικε λαλῆσαι, i.e. is not so dumb but that he will answer the blind fool who assails him, Cratin.6; “κωφότερος κίχλης” Eub.29; κ. χάρις a mute gift (sc. an epitaph), Epigr.Gr.298 (Teos); so “κωφοῖς δάκρυσι” IPE2.299 (Panticapaeum); κ. τάφοι prob. in IG12(8).441.26; κ. προσωπεῖον mute figure on the stage, Ph.2.520, cf. Plu.2.791e; “κ. πρόσωπον” Cic. Att.13.19.3; κ. καὶ ἄλογος, of a house, with no echoes, Luc.Dom. 1.
b. deaf, h.Merc.92, Heraclit.34.A.Th.202, Ch.881; “λήθην κωφήν, ἄναυδον” S.Fr.670; ὅσοι γίνονται κ. ἐκ γενετῆς, πάντες καὶ ἐνεοὶ γίνονται Arist.HA536b3 (hence of a deaf and dumb person, Hdt.1.34, BGU 1196.49 (i B. C.), cf. Hsch.); c.gen., “κωφὴ ἀκοῆς αἴσθησις” Antiph.196.5, cj. in Pl.Lg.932a; κ. Ἑλλάδος φωνᾶς deaf of one's Greek ear, i.e. ignorant of Greek, Dialex.6.12; “σπαράγματα κωφὰ τοῦ βεβαιοῦντος” Plu.2.1108d.
c. metaph., “νοῦς ὁρῇ καὶ νοῦς ἀκούει: τἆλλα κωφὰ καὶ τυφλά” Epich.249; “κ. πέτρος” Moschio Trag.7; “μαψαῦραι” Call.Fr.67; “ἐρημία” D.S.3.40: neut. pl. as Adv., “κωφὰ χλιαίνεσθαι” feebly, AP12.125 (Mel.).
3. ὄμμα κ. vacant, lack-lustre eye, Arist.Phgn.807b23.
4. of the senses in general, dull, Thphr.Sens.19 (Comp.).
5. of the mind, dull, obtuse, “ἐγὼ ὁ πάντα κ.” S.Aj.911, cf. Pi.P.9.87; “τὸ τῆς ψυχῆς ποιεῖν κ.” Pl.Ti.88b: κωφοί, οἱ, 'the Dullards', title of satyr-play by Sophocles.
b. of things, senseless, unmeaning, obscure, “κ. καὶ παλαί᾽ ἔπη” S.OT290; “κ. διήγησις” Plb.3.36.4, cf. 5.21.4; “ὑπόνοια” Phld.Mus.p.71 K.; “σκῶμμα” Plu.2.712a; but κ. εὐπραγίαι is prob.f.l.for κοῦφαι, D.C.38.27. Adv.-φῶς obscurely, Vett.Val.251.25: Comp. -ότερον, ἐνοχλεῖν less acutely, Phld.Vit.p.21 J.
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 (21):
    • Cicero, Letters to Atticus, 13.19.3
    • Aeschylus, Libation Bearers, 881
    • Aeschylus, Seven Against Thebes, 202
    • Herodotus, Histories, 1.34
    • Herodotus, Histories, 1.47
    • Herodotus, Histories, 4.200
    • Homer, Iliad, 11.390
    • Homer, Iliad, 14.16
    • Homer, Iliad, 24.54
    • Plato, Laws, 932a
    • Plato, Timaeus, 88b
    • Sophocles, Ajax, 911
    • Sophocles, Oedipus Tyrannus, 290
    • Xenophon, Hellenica, 2.4.31
    • Sophocles, Ichneutae, 670
    • Polybius, Histories, 3.36.4
    • Polybius, Histories, 5.21.4
    • Lucian, De Domo, 1
    • Diodorus, Historical Library, 3.40
    • Diodorus, Historical Library, 3.51
    • Cassius Dio, Historia Romana, 38.27
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