οἰκτιρ-μός

Grammatical information: m.

Meaning: `lamentation, compassion, pity' (Od.).

Compounds: Rarely as 2. member, e.g. ἔπ-οικτος `pitiable' (A.), ἄν-οικτος `pitiless' (S., E.).

Derivatives: Prim. superl. οἴκτιστος (Χ 76; Seiler Steigerungsformen 78 f.), φιλ-οίκτιστος `loving pity the most' (S.) from φίλ-οικτος (A. in lyr.); thus the rare οἰκτικός `belonging to lamentation, lamenting' (An. Bachm.) and οἰκτοσύνη f. = οἶκτος (Hdn. Epim.). -- Old is οἰκτρός `woeful, wailing, deplorable' (Il.), as 1. member e.g. in οἰκτρό-γοος `with woeful lamentation' (Pl. Phdr. 267 c); prob. (in spite of the genderdifference) to οἶκτος after αἶσχος: αἰσχρός, ἔχθος: ἐχθρός a.o. (cf. Seiler l. c.), cf. also the pair οἴκτιστος: αἴσχιστος (Schwvzer 481 n. 16). -- Denominative verbs. 1. From οἰκτρός: οἰκτί̄ρω (\< -ιρ-ι̯ω), Aeol. οἰκτίρρω (Hdn. Gr.), aor. οἰκτῖραι, fut. οἰκτιρῶ (Att. also - τερῶ after the itacistic - τεῖραι, - τείρω) late - τ(ε)ιρήσω (LXX, NT), also with κατ- a.o., `to pity, to commiserate, to bewail' (Il.); from it οἰκτιρ-μός m. `compassion, pity' (Pi., LXX, NT), - μων `compassionate, pitiful' (Gorg., Theoc., LXX) with - μοσύνη (Tz.); on *οἰκτίρ-ι̯ω from *οἰκτρ-ι̯ω with i-coloured reduced vowel Schwyzer 352. -- 2. From οἶκτος: οἰκτίζω, - ομαι, also with κατ- a.o., `id.' (trag., Th., Arist.) with οἰκτ-ισμός m. `bewailing' (A., X.), - ίσματα n. pl., `id.' (E.; Chantraine Form. 146), κατοίκτ-ισις f. `wailing, compassion' (X.).

Origin: ONOM [onomatopoia, and other elementary formations].

Etymology: Like ὀϊζύς, with comp. meaning, also οἶκτος prob. goes back on the interj. οι, through οἴζω; the close connection appears from the backformation δυσοίζω (s. v.) from δύσ-οικτος. Prellwitz s. v., also Schwyzer 501. Comparable nouns from interjective verbs in - ζω are frequent, e.g. αἴαγμα, αἰακτός (: αἰάζω, αἰαῖ), βάβαξ, βαβάκτης (: βαβάζω, βαβαί) etc., s. Schwyzer 716. Cf. οἰμώζω. -- Doubtful non-Greek combinations (Goth. aihtron `beg', OIr. ar-égi `complains') in Bq, WP. 1, 105 f., Pok. 298. -- On οἶκτος and related words in gen.. s. W. Burkert Zum altgr. Mitleidsbegriff. Diss. Erlangen 1955 (important review by Seyffert Gnomon 31, 389 ff.); also A. Klocker Wortgesch. von ἔλεος u. οἶκτος in d. gr. Dichtung u. Philosophie von Hom. bis Arist. Diss. Innsbruck 1953.

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