the Fourth Week after Easter
Click to donate today!
Bible Lexicons
Old & New Testament Greek Lexical Dictionary Greek Lexicon
Strong's #2338 - θῆλυς
- Thayer
- Strong
- Mounce
- of the female sex
- a woman, a female
- Book
- Word
- Parsing
θῆλυς, θήλεια, θῆλυ: fem. θήλεα, acc. pl. -εας Il. 5.269 (Hom. has regul. fem. θήλεια Il. 8.7,al., but also θῆλυς as fem., 10.216,al., as in other poets, v. infr.): Ion. fem. θήλεα, θήλεαν, θηλέης, θηλέῃ, pl. θήλεαι, θηλέας, θηλέων, Hdt. and Hp.: gen. θήλυδος S. Fr. 1054; acc. fem. θηλείην dub. l. in Nic. Al. 42, neut. pl. θήλεια Arat. 1068: also θηλύτερος indicating opposition rather than comparison (cf. ἀρρέντερος) ; θηλύτεραι δὲ γυναῖκες Il. 8.520; θηλύτεραι δὲ θεαί Od. 8.324; μάτε ἐρσεναιτέραν μάτε θηλυτέραν Schwyzer 424 (Elis, iv B.C.); in late Prose θηλύτερος, -ύτατος occur as Comp. and Sup. (v. infr. 11): (θη- 'suckle', cf. θῆσαι): —
I
1. female, θήλεια θεός a goddess, Il. 8.7; Ἥρη θῆλυς ἐοῦσα being female, 19.97, cf. A. Ag. 1231, S. Tr. 1062, E. IT 621; θήλειαι ἵπποι mares, Od. 4.636, etc.; σύες θήλειαι sows, 14.16; ὄϊς θῆλυς a ewe, Il. 10.216; θήλεια μῆλα Arat. 1068; θήλεια ἔλαφος a hind, Pi. O. 3.29; θήλεα κάμηλος Hdt. 3.102; ἡ θ. ἵππος ib. 86; θ. ὄρνις S. Fr. 477; ζῷα θ. Pl. Criti. 110c; ἄπαις θήλεος γόνου without female issue, Hdt. 3.66; θῆλυς σπορά E. Hec. 659; θήλειαι γυναῖκες Id. Or. 1205; θ. κόραι Pl. Lg. 764d: with masc. nouns, ὁ θῆλυς ὀρεύς the she -mule, Arist. HA 577b22; ἄνθρωπος θῆλυς Id. PA 688b31: masc. pl., θήλεις χοροί Critias 1.8D.; but μὴ εἶναι θεοὺς ἄρρενας μηδὲ θηλείας Phld. Piet. 12. ἡ θήλεα, Att. -εια, the female, Hdt. 3.109, X. Mem. 2.1.4; ἀλέκτωρ ὥστε θηλείας πέλας A. Ag. 1671 (troch.). τὸ θ. γένος the female sex, woman -kind, E. Hec. 885; τὸ θ. alone, Id. HF 536, etc.; opp. τὸ ἄρρεν, Pl. R. 454d, Arist. Metaph. 988a5; [ ἡ δεῖνα] τέτοκεν θῆλυ PTeb. 422.18 (iii A.D.),al. of plants and trees, Thphr. HP 3.9.1; θ. κάλαμος Dsc. 1.85; θῆλυς φοῖνιξ Ach.Tat. 1.17; θῆλυ βούτομον Thphr. HP 4.10.4.
2. of or belonging to women, κουράων θῆλυς ἀϋτή Od. 6.122; θήλεα νοῦσος among the Scythians (cf. Ἐνάρεες), Hdt. 1.105; νόμος A. Ch. 821 (lyr.); φύσις Pl. R. 453a; χάρις APl. 4.[*]87 (Leont.); θ. φόνος murder by women, E. Ba. 796.
II metaph., of persons and things,
1 soft, gentle, θῆλυς ἐέρση Od. 5.467, Hes. Sc. 395; θ. νύξ (= ὕπομβρος) S. Fr. 1053. ὕδωρ θ. καὶ μαλακόν Thphr. CP 2.6.3; θηλυτέρα ὀσμή ib. 6.15.4; θηλύτατον πεδίον most fruitful, Call. Fr. 296; θηλύτατον ὕδωρ of the Nile, Id. Sos. vii 5.
2. tender, delicate, Φοίβου θήλειαι.. παρειαί Id. Ap. 37; θῆλυς ἀπὸ χροιῆς delicate of skin, Theoc. 16.49; of temper or character, soft, yielding, weak, θῆλυς ηὕρημαι τάλας S. Tr. 1075; γυνὴ δὲ θῆλυ κἀπὶ δακρύοις ἔφυ E. Med. 928; θήλεια φρήν Ar. Lys. 708, cf. E. Andr. 181; δίαιτα θηλυτέρα ἢ κατ' ἄνδρα Plu. Mar. 34; θηλύτατος Luc. Im. 13; παλλακὴ -υτάτη Philostr. VS 2.21.2; τὸ θῆλυ τῆς ψυχῆς effeminacy, Men. 599.
3. in mechanics, those parts were called female into which others fitted, as the female vertebra, Poll. 2.180; γίγγλυμος J. AJ 3.6.3.
4. Gramm., feminine, θήλεα [ὀνόματα ] Ar. Nu. 682; θήλεα Arist. Po. 1458a10.
5. Pythag., of even numbers, Plu. 2.264a, 288d.
6. Astrol., of planets, Ptol. Tetr. 19; cf. θηλυκός 3c.
III θήλειαι, αἱ, kind of cheese made in Crete, Seleuc. ap. Ath. 14.650d.
θῆλυς, θηλείᾳ, θῆλυ (cf. θηλάζω, at the beginning), of the female sex; ἡ θηλείᾳ, a substantive, a woman, a female: Romans 1:26f; also τό θῆλυ, Matthew 19:4; Mark 10:6; Galatians 3:28. (Genesis 1:27; Genesis 7:2; Exodus 1:16, euc.; in Greek writings from Homer down.)
Copyright © 2002, 2003, 2006, 2011 by Biblesoft, Inc.
All rights rserved. Used by permission. BibleSoft.com
θῆλυς , -εια , -υ ,
[in LXX chiefly for H5347;]
female: as subst., ἡ θ ., a female, a woman: Romans 1:26-27; τὸ θ .., Matthew 19:4, Mark 10:6, Galatians 3:28.†
Copyright © 1922 by G. Abbott-Smith, D.D., D.C.L.. T & T Clarke, London.
A striking ex. of this adj. occurs in P Oxy IV. 744.10 (B.C.1) (= Selections, p. 33) where a husband writes to his wife with reference to an unborn child—ἐὰν ἦν ἄρσενον, ἄφες, ἐὰν ἦν θήλεα, ἔκβαλε, ";if it is a male, let it live; if it is a female, expose it."; The word is common with reference to animals, e.g. P Ryl II. 145.16 (A.D. 38) ὄνον θήλειαν, PSI I.39.5 (A.D. 148) ἵπον (l.ἵππον) θήλειαν, and P Strass I. 30.6 (A.D. 276) βούλομαι μισθώσασθαι παρά σου αἶγας θηλείας τε [λ ]είας ἀθανάτους ἀριθμῷ πεντήκοντα ἕξ, where ἀθανάτους refers to the number of the goats : they were ";immortal"; in the same sense as the Persian Guard, in that the stock was to be kept up at its full strength.
For the form θηλυκός, as in MGr, see BGU I. 95.17 (A.D. 147) τ [έκνα ] θ [ηλ ]υκὰ τρία, and P Oxy XII. 1458.10 (A.D. 216–17) πρ [όβ (ατα) ξ ̄, ἄ ]ρρ (ενα) ζ ̄, θηλ (υκὰ) λ ̄[., ";60 sheep, 7 male, 3[.] female"; (Edd.).
Copyright © 1914, 1929, 1930 by James Hope Moulton and George Milligan. Hodder and Stoughton, London.
Derivative Copyright © 2015 by Allan Loder.
