ἀάατος

From ἀάω (aáō, “I hurt, damage”) with privative alpha ἀ- (a-) and -τος (-tos). An alternative hypothesis given for the use of the word as a Homeric epithet for the Styx is from Proto-Indo-European *n̥seh₂wn̥tos (“sunless”).[1]

ᾰ̓ᾱ́ᾰτος • (aā́atos) m or f (neuter ᾰ̓ᾱ́ᾰτον); second declension

(Epic)

1. (Epic) inviolable
   • 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Iliad 14.269-276:

     ὣς φάτο, χήρατο δ’ Ὕπνος, ἀμειβόμενος δὲ προσηύδα:
     ‘ἄγρει νῦν μοι ὄμοσσον ἀάατον Στυγὸς ὕδωρ,
     χειρὶ δὲ τῇ ἑτέρῃ μὲν ἕλε χθόνα πουλυβότειραν,
     τῇ δ’ ἑτέρῃ ἅλα μαρμαρέην, ἵνα νῶϊν ἅπαντες
     μάρτυροι ὦσ’ οἳ ἔνερθε θεοὶ Κρόνον ἀμφὶς ἐόντες
     ἦ μὲν ἐμοὶ δώσειν Χαρίτων μίαν ὁπλοτεράων
     Πασιθέην, ἧς τ’ αὐτὸς ἐέλδομαι ἤματα πάντα.’

     hṑs pháto, khḗrato d’ Húpnos, ameibómenos dè prosēúda:
     ‘ágrei nûn moi ómosson aáaton Stugòs húdōr,
     kheirì dè têi hetérēi mèn héle khthóna poulubóteiran,
     têi d’ hetérēi hála marmaréēn, hína nôïn hápantes
     márturoi ôs’ hoì énerthe theoì Krónon amphìs eóntes
     ê mèn emoì dṓsein Kharítōn mían hoploteráōn
     Pasithéēn, hês t’ autòs eéldomai ḗmata pánta.’

     • 1924 translation by A. T. Murray

       So spake she, and Sleep waxed glad, and made answer saying: “Come now, swear to me by the inviolable water of Styx, and with one hand lay thou hold of the bounteous earth, and with the other of the shimmering sea, that one and all they may be witnesses betwixt us twain, even the gods that are below with Cronos, [275] that verily thou wilt give me one of the youthful Graces, even Pasithea, that myself I long for all my days.”

2. (Epic) invincible
3. (Epic) infallible

• ἀάατος in Liddell & Scott (1940) A Greek–English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• ἀάατος in Liddell & Scott (1889) An Intermediate Greek–English Lexicon, New York: Harper & Brothers
• ἀάατος in Autenrieth, Georg (1891) A Homeric Dictionary for Schools and Colleges, New York: Harper and Brothers
• ἀάατος in Bailly, Anatole (1935) Le Grand Bailly: Dictionnaire grec-français, Paris: Hachette
• ἀάατος in the Diccionario Griego–Español en línea (2006–2019)