ὦ
ō
G5600
SILEX Entry
Definition
Vocative particle used primarily to address or call upon a person, group, or object directly; expressing exclamation, invocation, or emotion such as surprise, entreaty, or lament. Does not carry inherent propositional meaning but marks and intensifies direct address or exclamatory expression in literary and spoken Greek. The word itself does not modify the grammatical person or number of the addressee but rather signals the speaker's orientation toward the one addressed.
Semantic Range
vocative particle; exclamatory marker; marker of direct address; sign of entreaty, plea, lament, surprise, or rhetorical emphasis
Root / Etymology
An early Greek interjection of uncertain origin; not derived from another Greek word but existing as a simple vocative or exclamatory particle throughout attested Greek literature. Its usage is comparable cross-linguistically to exclamatory or vocative particles in other Indo-European languages. Etymology uncertain.
Historical & Contextual Notes
ὦ has a long history in Greek literature, appearing from the earliest Homeric texts (e.g., the Iliad and Odyssey) to Classical, Hellenistic, and Koine periods, including the Septuagint and New Testament. Primarily functions as a vocative particle to add emotional coloring—urgency, lament, plea, or solemnity—to direct address. It is frequent in poetic style, prayers, and elevated prose. In New Testament usage, ὦ is found in formal or emphatic addresses (e.g., 'ὦ ἄνθρωπε'—'O human,' Romans 2:1), adding rhetorical force. It is not a verb form, contrary to some confusion with subjunctive or optative verbal endings, nor does it function as a predicative 'to be.' English translations often omit ὦ or render it as 'O' to preserve the force of direct address, but this can underrepresent its emotional nuance. The particle does not change the core meaning of the sentence but frames the mode of address. In later Greek and in liturgical language, ὦ maintained this evocative-function. It is distinct from verb forms such as ᾖ (optative of εἰμί) or ῇ (subjunctive of εἰμί), and should not be confused with them.
Original Strong's Gloss (1890)
the subjunctive of εἰμί; (may, might, can, could, would, should, must, etc.; also with εἰ and its comparative, as well as with other particles) be:--+ appear, are, (may, might, should) be, X have, is, + pass the flower of her age, should stand, were.
Word Forms
0 distinct forms
No word forms found for this Strong's number.
Occurrences in Scripture
0 occurrences
No occurrences found.