εἰ: Difference between revisions

|auten=if, if only, [[whether]]; [[conjunction]] used in the [[expression]] of a [[wish]] or a [[condition]], and in [[indirect]] questions.— I. As [[particle]] of wishing, εἰ or εἰ [[γάρ]], would [[that]], O [[that]], is foll. by the optative.—II. Interrogatively, [[whether]], foll. by [[such]] [[construction]] as the [[meaning]] requires, e. g., κατάλεξον | εἰ καὶ Λᾶέρτῃ αὐτὴν ὁδὸν [[ἄγγελος]] ἔλθω, ‘am to go,’ Od. 16.138.—III. In conditional clauses εἰ (εἰ μή), and [[with]] the subj. [[often]] ([[sometimes]] w. the opt.) εἴ κεν, [[rarely]] w. ἄν, εἰ δ' ἂν ἐμοὶ τῖμὴν [[Πρίαμος]] Πριάμοιό τε παῖδες | τίνειν [[οὐκ]] ἐθέλωσιν, Il. 3.288. Conditions of [[which]] the [[conclusion]] is [[vague]] are [[sometimes]] regarded as interrogative, e. g. [[ἀναπεπταμένᾶς]] [[ἔχον]] ἆνέρες, εἴ τιν' ἑταίρων | ἐκ πολέμου φεύγοντα σαώσειαν, [[they]] held the gates [[open]], in [[case]] [[they]] [[might]] be [[able]] to [[save]] [[some]] [[fugitive]], Il. 12.122; [[thus]] [[often]] εἴ που or εἴ [[πως]], ‘in the [[hope]] [[that]],’ ‘on the [[chance]] [[that]],’ etc. —With [[other]] particles, εἰ καί, if [[also]] (or denoting [[concession]], [[though]]), καὶ εἰ (οὐδ' εἰ, μηδ εἰ), [[even]] if, denoting [[opposition]]; εἴ τε.. εἴ τε (sive.. sive), ὡς εἰ, ὡς εἴ τε, εἰ δή, εἴ περ, εἴ γε (q. v.); in εἰ δ' [[ἄγε]] (q. v.), εἰ is [[probably]] an interjection.