ὦ and
ὤ, an exclamation, expressing surprise, joy, or pain,
O! oh! with
nominative, ὢ τάλας ἐγώ [
Refs 5th c.BC+]: also with
genitive, ὢ τῆς ἀναισχυντίας [
Refs 2nd c.AD+]; with
interrogative, ὤ, τί λέγει; [
Refs]; in the middle of a sentence, [
Refs 5th c.BC+]
II) with
vocative, a mode of address, whether at the beginning of a sentence or in a parenthesis, ὦ Ἀχιλεῦ [
Refs 8th c.BC+]; in invocations of the gods, ὦ Ζεῦ τε καὶ Γῆ καὶ πολισσοῦχοι θεοί [
Refs 5th c.BC+]; ὦ πρὸς θεῶν ὕπεικε [
Refs 4th c.BC+]: sometimes following the Verb, [
Refs 5th c.BC+]; in different number from the
vocative, προσέλθετ᾽, ὦ παῖ, πατρί [
Refs 5th c.BC+]
II.2) with
nominative instead of
vocative, ὦ δῐος αἰθήρ, ὦ φίλος, [
Refs 5th c.BC+]; also οὗτος, ὦ σέ τοι (i.e. καλῶ) [
Refs 5th c.BC+]
II.3) with both together, φίλος ὦ Μενέλαε [
Refs 8th c.BC+]
II.4) with the latter of two nouns, Ἀγάμεμνον, ὦ Μενέλαε [
Refs].—In the first sense usually written ὤ, in the second ὦ: [τὸ ὢ] ἡνίκα θαυμαστικὸν λαμβάνεται βαρύνεται, καὶ χωρεῐ εἰς ἐπιρρηματικὴν σύνταξιν, οἷον ὢ Ἡρακλῆς [
Refs] (ὦ,) expresses surprise (but [
Refs 2nd c.AD+] seems to imply ὦ in both senses); ὤ as an exclamation is found in forms like{ὤ μοι}, ὤ μοι ἐγώ, ὢ πρὸς τῶν θεῶν [
Refs 4th c.BC+] is improbable,compare [
Refs 9th c.AD+]; ᾤμοι and ὤμοι are both recognized by [
Refs 7th c.BC+]; written ὼ ώ in Papyrus of [
Refs 5th c.BC+]. To those who (like [
Refs 2nd c.BC+] for the
vocative of the
Article ὁ, [
Refs 2nd c.AD+] replies at length.