σῴζω

• σᾰόω (saóō), σάωμῐ (sáōmi), σόω (sóō), σώζω (sṓzō), σώω (sṓō)

σῶς (sôs, “safe, sound”) +‎ -ίζω (-ízō), from Pre-Hellenic form *σάϜος (*sáWos), from Proto-Indo-European *tweh₂-u-s, from *tewh₂- (“to be strong”).

σῴζω • (sṓizō)

1. I save
   • 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Odyssey 9.430:

     ὁ μὲν ἐν μέσῳ ἄνδρα φέρεσκε, / τὼ δ᾽ ἑτέρω ἑκάτερθεν ἴτην σώοντες ἑταίρους.

     ho mèn en mésōi ándra phéreske, / tṑ d᾽ hetérō hekáterthen ítēn sṓontes hetaírous.

     The one in the middle in each case bore a man, and the other two went, one on either side, saving my comrades.

   • 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Iliad 15.503:

     νῦν ἄρκιον ἢ ἀπολέσθαι / ἠὲ σαωθῆναι καὶ ἀπώσασθαι κακὰ νηῶν.

     nûn árkion ḕ apolésthai / ēè saōthênai kaì apṓsasthai kakà nēôn.

     Now it is sure that we must either perish utterly or find deliverance by thrusting back the peril from the ships.

   1. I heal
      • 460 BCE – 370 BCE, Hippocrates, The Coan Praenotions 136
   2. (Christianity) I save
      • New Testament, First Epistle to the Corinthians 1:21:

        εὐδόκησεν ὁ θεὸς […] σῶσαι τοὺς πιστεύοντας.

        eudókēsen ho theòs […] sôsai toùs pisteúontas.

        it was God's good pleasure […] to save those who believe

   3. (rare in Homer) Ι keep safe, preserve
      • 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Odyssey 13.230:

        ἀλλὰ σάω μὲν ταῦτα, σάω δ᾽ ἐμέ:

        allà sáō mèn taûta, sáō d᾽ emé:

        Nay, save this [treasure], and save me.

   4. I keep, observe, maintain
      • 458 BCE, Aeschylus, The Eumenides 241:

        σῴζων ἐφετμὰς Λοξίου χρηστηρίους, / πρόσειμι δῶμα καὶ βρέτας τὸ σόν, θεά.

        sṓizōn ephetmàs Loxíou khrēstēríous, / próseimi dôma kaì brétas tò són, theá.

        Keeping the commands of Loxias' oracle, I now approach your house and image, goddess.

   5. (usually middle) I keep in mind, remember
      • 412 BCE, Euripides, Helen 266:

        Ἕλληνες ἐπελάθοντο, τὰς δὲ μὴ κακὰς / ἔσῳζον ὥσπερ τὰς κακὰς σῴζουσί μου.

        Héllēnes epeláthonto, tàs dè mḕ kakàs / ésōizon hṓsper tàs kakàs sṓizousí mou.

        The Hellenes would have forgotten the evil fate that I now have, and would remember what part of my life is not evil, as they now remember what is.

   6. I bring safely (to)
      • 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Odyssey 5.451:

        τὸν δ᾽ ἐσάωσεν ἐς ποταμοῦ προχοάς

        tòn d᾽ esáōsen es potamoû prokhoás

        and [the god] brought him safely to the mouth of the river

   7. I rescue
      • 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Iliad 11.752:

        εἰ μή σφωε πατὴρ εὐρὺ κρείων ἐνοσίχθων / ἐκ πολέμου ἐσάωσε καλύψας ἠέρι πολλῇ.

        ei mḗ sphōe patḕr eurù kreíōn enosíkhthōn / ek polémou esáōse kalúpsas ēéri pollêi.

        but that their father, the wide-ruling Shaker of Earth, saved them from war

   8. I save for
      • 421 BCE, Aristophanes, Peace 1022.τὰ μηρἴ ἐξελὼν δεῦρ᾽ ἔκφερε, / χοὔτω τὸ πρόβατον τῷ χορηγῷ σῴζεται.:

        Cut off the legs and bring them here; thus the carcass will be saved for the Choregus.

   9. (with infinitive)
      • 408 BCE, Euripides, The Phoenician Women 600.κομπὸς εἶ σπονδαῖς πεποιθώς, αἵ σε σῴζουσιν θανεῖν.:

        Relying on the truce, which saves you from dying, you turn boaster.

   10. (with participle)
       • 430 BCE – 354 BCE, Xenophon, Cyropaedia :

         αἱρετώτερόν ἐστι μαχομένους ἀποθνῄσκειν μᾶλλον ἢ φεύγοντας σῴζεσθαι

         hairetṓterón esti makhoménous apothnḗiskein mâllon ḕ pheúgontas sṓizesthai

         it is better to die in battle than to save one's life by running away

Attested irregularly conjugated forms include the Laconian third-person singular present active indicative, σωάδδει (sōáddei), and third-person singular aorist active indicative, ἀπεσόϊξεν (apesóïxen) — both found in the Hesychian lexicon — as well as an unspecified form of the otherwise unattested variant spelling, σωννύω (sōnnúō), reportedly used in the fifth fragment of Dinolochus (487 BC).

• Greek: σώζω (sózo)

• σῴζω in Liddell & Scott (1940) A Greek–English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• σῴζω in Bailly, Anatole (1935) Le Grand Bailly: Dictionnaire grec-français, Paris: Hachette
• G4982 in Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance to the Bible, 1979
• Beekes, Robert S. P. (2010) Etymological Dictionary of Greek (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 10), with the assistance of Lucien van Beek, Leiden, Boston: Brill