ὄλεθρος

ὄλεθρος • (ólethros) m (genitive ὀλέθρου); second declension

1. ruin, destruction, death, bane
   • 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Odyssey 1.1–12:

     ἔνθ’ ἄλλοι μὲν πάντες, ὅσοι φύγον αἰπὺν ὄλεθρον,
     οἴκοι ἔσαν, πόλεμόν τε πεφευγότες ἠδὲ θάλασσαν·

     énth’ álloi mèn pántes, hósoi phúgon aipùn ólethron,
     oíkoi ésan, pólemón te pepheugótes ēdè thálassan;

     then all the others, who had fled headlong destruction,
     were at home, having escaped war and the sea

2. causing destruction: pest, plague
   • 750 BCE – 650 BCE, Hesiod, Theogony 326–327:

     ἣ δ’ ἄρα Φῖκ’ ὀλοὴν τέκε Καδμείοισιν ὄλεθρον
     Ὅρθῳ ὑποδμηθεῖσα Νεμειαῖόν τε λέοντα

     hḕ d’ ára Phîk’ oloḕn téke Kadmeíoisin ólethron
     Hórthōi hupodmētheîsa Nemeiaîón te léonta

     But then she, subdued by Orthus, gave birth to the ruinous Sphinx, a plague to the Cadmeans, and the Nemean lion

   1. As a contemptuous name applied to a person.
      • 425 BCE, Aristophanes, Lysistrata 325:

        πέτου πέτου Νικοδίκη,
        πρὶν ἐμπεπρῆσθαι Καλύκην
        τε καὶ Κρίτυλλαν περιφυσήτω
        ὑπό τε νόμων ἀργαλέων
        ὑπό τε γερόντων ὀλέθρων.

        pétou pétou Nikodíkē,
        prìn empeprêsthai Kalúkēn
        te kaì Krítullan periphusḗtō
        hupó te nómōn argaléōn
        hupó te geróntōn oléthrōn.

        • 1912 translation by The Athenian Society

          Fly, fly, Nicodicé, ere Calycé and Crityllé perish in the fire, or are stifled in the smoke raised by these accursed old men and their pitiless laws.

In the Iliad and Odyssey, this word is very often found in the phrase αἰπὺς ὄλεθρος (aipùs ólethros, “headlong destruction”), as in the first example above.

• ὄλεθρος in Cunliffe, Richard J. (1924) A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect: Expanded Edition, Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, published 1963
• ὄλεθρος in Liddell & Scott (1940) A Greek–English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• ὄλεθρος in Bailly, Anatole (1935) Le Grand Bailly: Dictionnaire grec-français, Paris: Hachette