κάθημαι

Ancient Greek

Alternative forms

κᾰτῆμαι (katêmai) — Ionic

Etymology

From κᾰτᾰ- (kata-, “down”) +‎ ἧμαι (hêmai, “to sit”).

Pronunciation

(5^th BCE Attic) IPA^(key): /ká.tʰɛː.mai̯/
(1^st CE Egyptian) IPA^(key): /ˈka.tʰe̝.mɛ/
(4^th CE Koine) IPA^(key): /ˈka.θi.mɛ/
(10^th CE Byzantine) IPA^(key): /ˈka.θi.me/
(15^th CE Constantinopolitan) IPA^(key): /ˈka.θi.me/

Verb

κᾰ́θημαι • (káthēmai)

to be seated
- 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Iliad 2.191
- 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Iliad 16.407
- 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Odyssey 5.82
- 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Iliad 8.207
- 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Iliad 23.448
- 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Odyssey 10.497
- 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Odyssey 17.530
- 423 BCE, Aristophanes, The Clouds 466
- 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Odyssey 21.420
- 442 BCE, Sophocles, Antigone 411
- 460 BCE – 420 BCE, Herodotus, Histories 3.83
- 460 BCE – 420 BCE, Herodotus, Histories 4.118
- 460 BCE – 420 BCE, Herodotus, Histories 8.73
- 460 BCE – 420 BCE, Herodotus, Histories 2.149
- 458 BCE, Euripides, Electra 315
- 412 BCE, Euripides, Helen 1084
- 422 BCE, Aristophanes, The Wasps 773
- 380 BCE, Plato, The Republic 328C
- 430 BCE – 354 BCE, Xenophon, Cyropaedia 4.5.54
- Alciphron, Collected Works 3.27
- 430 BCE, Euripides, Herakles' Children 55
- 425 BCE, Euripides, Andromache 266
- 430 BCE, Euripides, Herakles' Children 394
1. to be seated in court
  - 440 BCE – 390 BCE, Andocides, Collected Works 18.13
  - 344 BCE – 343 BCE, Demosthenes, Second Philippic 3
  - 423 BCE, Aristophanes, The Clouds 208
  - 460 BCE – 395 BCE, Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War 5.85
  - 400 BCE – 387 BCE, Plato, Apology 35C
  - 384 BCE – 322 BCE, Demosthenes, Against Theocrines 25
  - 440 BCE – 390 BCE, Andocides, Collected Works 6.42
  - 361 BCE, Demosthenes, Against Midias 116
  - 430 BCE – 354 BCE, Xenophon, Anabasis 5.10.5
  - Hegesipp., Ἀδελφ. 1.29
  2. (present participle) οἱ καθήμενοι (kathḗmenoi): the judges
2. to sit still, sit quietly, sit idly, do nothing
  - 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Odyssey 16.264
  - 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Iliad 11.76
  - 460 BCE – 420 BCE, Herodotus, Histories 1.45
  - 497 BCE – 405 BCE, Sophocles, Fragments 380
  - 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Iliad 24.403
  - 460 BCE – 420 BCE, Herodotus, Histories 3.134
  - 460 BCE – 395 BCE, Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War 4.124
  - 384 BCE – 322 BCE, Demosthenes, Reply to Philip 17
  - 460 BCE – 395 BCE, Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War 2.20
  - 408 BCE, Euripides, The Phoenician Women 752
3. to lead a sedentary, obscure life
  - 522 BCE – 443 BCE, Pindar, Olympian Ode 1.133, (compare Aeschylus, The Libation Bearers 919)
  - 430 BCE – 354 BCE, Xenophon, Oeconomicus 4.2
  - 460 BCE – 420 BCE, Herodotus, Histories 2.86
  - 384 BCE – 322 BCE, Demosthenes, Against Timotheus 42, (compare Against Stephanus 1 33)
  - 384 BCE – 322 BCE, Demosthenes, Against Neaera 67
  - 389 BCE – 314 BCE, Aeschines, Collected Works 6.18
4. (of people) to be settled
  - 460 BCE – 420 BCE, Herodotus, Histories 5.63
5. (of things) to be set or placed
  - 385 BCE – 380 BCE, Plato, Symposium 215A
  - 5th century BC, Telecleides, Sterrhoi 2
  - 384 BCE – 322 BCE, Aristotle, Mechanics 5.3

Inflection

The perfect and pluperfect function as the verb's present and imperfect tenses.
The missing tenses are supplied by καθέζομαι, καθίζω, καθίζομαι.

Perfect: κάθημαι (with present subjunctive and optative forms)

number		singular			dual		plural
		first	second	third	second	third	first	second	third
middle/ passive	indicative	κάθημαι	κάθησαι	κάθηται	κάθησθον	κάθησθον	καθήμεθᾰ	κάθησθε	κάθηνται
	subjunctive	καθῶμαι	καθῇ	καθῆται	καθῆσθον	καθῆσθον	καθώμεθᾰ	καθῆσθε	καθῶνται
	optative	καθοίμην	καθοῖο	καθοῖτο	καθοῖσθον	καθοίσθην	καθοίμεθᾰ	καθοῖσθε	καθοῖντο
	imperative		κάθησο/κάθου	καθήσθω	κάθησθον	καθήσθων		κάθησθε	καθήσθων/καθήσθωσαν
						middle/passive
infinitive						καθῆσθαι
participle	m					καθήμενος
	f					καθήμενη
	n					καθήμενον
Notes:	This table gives Attic inflectional endings. For conjugation in dialects other than Attic, see Appendix:Ancient Greek dialectal conjugation.

Pluperfect: ἐκαθήμην

number		singular			dual		plural
		first	second	third	second	third	first	second	third
middle/ passive	indicative	ἐκαθήμην	ἐκάθησο	ἐκάθητο	ἐκάθησθον	ἐκαθήσθην	ἐκαθήμεθᾰ	ἐκάθησθε	ἐκάθηντο
Notes:	This table gives Attic inflectional endings. For conjugation in dialects other than Attic, see Appendix:Ancient Greek dialectal conjugation.

Pluperfect: καθήμην

number		singular			dual		plural
		first	second	third	second	third	first	second	third
middle/ passive	indicative	καθήμην	καθῆσο	καθῆστο/καθῆτο	καθῆσθον	καθήσθην	καθήμεθᾰ	καθῆσθε	καθῆντο
Notes:	This table gives Attic inflectional endings. For conjugation in dialects other than Attic, see Appendix:Ancient Greek dialectal conjugation.

Synonyms

κᾰθέζομαι (kathézomai), ἕζομαι (hézomai, “sit oneself, sit down”)
κᾰ́θημαι (káthēmai), ἧμαι (hêmai, “to be seated”)
κᾰθῐζᾰ́νω (kathizánō), ῐ̔ζᾰ́νω (hizánō, “to cause to sit, to sit down”)
κᾰθῐ́ζω (kathízō), ῐ̔́ζω (hízō, “to cause to sit, to sit down”)

Related terms

καθέδρα (kathédra)

Descendants

Greek: κάθομαι (káthomai, “to sit”)

References

“κάθημαι”, in Liddell & Scott (1940) A Greek–English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
“κάθημαι”, in Liddell & Scott (1889) An Intermediate Greek–English Lexicon, New York: Harper & Brothers
“κάθημαι”, in Autenrieth, Georg (1891) A Homeric Dictionary for Schools and Colleges, New York: Harper and Brothers
κάθημαι in Bailly, Anatole (1935) Le Grand Bailly: Dictionnaire grec-français, Paris: Hachette
κάθημαι in Cunliffe, Richard J. (1924) A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect: Expanded Edition, Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, published 1963
“κάθημαι”, in Slater, William J. (1969) Lexicon to Pindar, Berlin: Walter de Gruyter
G2521 in Strong, James (1979) Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance to the Bible
Smyth, Herbert Weir (1920) “Part II: Inflection”, in A Greek grammar for colleges, Cambridge: American Book Company, § 790