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σφάζω , Od.4.320, Hdt.2.39, E.Tr.134 (lyr.); in Com. (Cratin. 361) and Prose, from Pl. (Grg.468c) downwards, σφάττω , cf. Σφαττόμενος title of play by Diph., IG22.2363.34, and σ[φά]ττετ[αι] SIG 1024.36 (Myconus, iii/ii B.C.); Boeot. σφάδδω An.Ox.4.325: fut.
A.“σφάξω” E.Heracl.493: aor. “ἔσφαξα” Il.2.422: pf. ἔσφα^κα, known from plpf. “ἐσφάκειν” D.C.73.6, (ἀπο-) 78.7:—Pass., fut. “σφα^γήσομαι” E.Andr. 315, Heracl.583, (ἀπο-) X.HG3.1.27: aor. ἐσφάγην [α^] Trag. (A.Eu. 305, etc.) and late Prose, Plu.Publ.4, etc.; less freq. ἐσφάχθην, Pi.P. 11.23, Hdt.5.5, E.IT177 (lyr., nowhere else in Trag.): pf. “ἔσφαγμαι” Od.10.532, D.23.68:—slay, slaughter, properly by cutting the throat (v. “σφαγή” 11), in Hom. always of cattle, “μῆλ᾽ ἁδινὰ σφάζουσι καὶ εἰλίποδας ἕλικας βοῦς” Od.1.92, cf. 9.46, 23.305, Il.9.467.
II. esp. slaughter victims for sacrifice, 1.459, etc.; ἔσφαζ᾽ ἐπ᾽ ὤμων μόσχον cut its throat, as it hung from the servant's shoulders, E.El.813; “ς. παρθένου δέρην” Id.Or.1199:—Pass., Od.10.532; “ἀρνίον ἐσφαγμένον” Apoc. 5.6.
2. generally, slay, kill, of human victims, as Iphigeneia, Menoeceus, Pi.P.11.23, E.Ph.913, cf. A.Ag.1433, Ch.904; ς. τινὰ ἐς τὸν κρητῆρα so that the blood ran into the bowl, Hdt.3.11:— Pass., “σφάζεται ἐς τὸν τάφον” Id.5.5; “πρὸς βωμῷ σφαγείς” A.Eu. 305.
3. of any slaughter by knife or sword, Hdt.5.25, 7.107; “ς. ἑαυτόν” Th.2.92; “ς. καὶ ἐκδέρειν” Pl.Euthd.301c; “τὸν ἴδιον ἀδελφόν” PMag.Osl.1.5, cf. 1 Ep.Jo.3.12.
4. of animals, tear by the throat, “ς. ὥσπερ οἱ λύκοι τὰ πρόβατα” Arist.HA612b2.
5. of any killing, BGU388 ii 21 (ii A.D.), OGI697 (Egypt), Sammelb.7436.7 (vi A.D.), Gloss.
6. metaph., torment, τινα POxy.259.33 (i A.D.).
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 (34):
    • Aeschylus, Agamemnon, 1433
    • Aeschylus, Eumenides, 305
    • Aeschylus, Libation Bearers, 904
    • Demosthenes, Against Aristocrates, 68
    • Euripides, Andromache, 315
    • Euripides, Electra, 813
    • Euripides, Heraclidae, 493
    • Euripides, Heraclidae, 583
    • Euripides, Iphigeneia in Taurus, 177
    • Euripides, Orestes, 1199
    • Euripides, Phoenician Women, 913
    • Euripides, Trojan Women, 134
    • Herodotus, Histories, 2.39
    • Herodotus, Histories, 3.11
    • Herodotus, Histories, 5.25
    • Herodotus, Histories, 7.107
    • Herodotus, Histories, 5.5
    • Homer, Iliad, 1.459
    • Homer, Iliad, 9.467
    • Homer, Odyssey, 1.92
    • Homer, Odyssey, 23.305
    • Homer, Odyssey, 4.320
    • New Testament, Revelation, 5.6
    • Plato, Euthydemus, 301c
    • Plato, Gorgias, 468c
    • Xenophon, Hellenica, 3.1.27
    • Homer, Iliad, 2.422
    • Homer, Odyssey, 10.532
    • Homer, Odyssey, 9.46
    • Thucydides, Histories, 2.92
    • New Testament, 1 John, 3.12
    • Plutarch, Publicola, 4
    • Cassius Dio, Historia Romana, 73.6
    • Cassius Dio, Historia Romana, 78.7
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