τᾰχύς [ῠ], εῖα, ύ:
I) of motion,
swift, fleet, opposed to βραδύς,
I.1) of persons and animals, either
absolutely, [
Refs 8th c.BC+]; or more fully, πόδας ταχύς [
Refs]; ταχὺς ἔσκε θέειν [
Refs 8th c.BC+]; θείειν τ. [
Refs 8th c.BC+]; κύνες, ἔλαφος, πτώξ, ἵππος, [
Refs 8th c.BC+]; τ. βαδιστής a
quick walker, [
Refs 5th c.BC+]; σφοδροὶ καὶ τ. [
Refs 5th c.BC+]
I.2) of things, τ. πόδες [
Refs 8th c.BC+]; τ. ἰός, ὀϊστοί, [
Refs 8th c.BC+]; νῆες, τριήρεις, [
Refs 5th c.BC+]
II) of thought and purpose,
quick, hasty, φρονεῖν γὰρ οἱ ταχεῖς οὐκ ἀσφαλεῖς [
Refs 5th c.BC+]
infinitive, βλάπτειν τ. [
Refs 5th c.BC+]; τὸ ταχύ
speed, haste, [
Refs 5th c.BC+]
II.2) of actions, events, etc,
rapid, sudden, πήδημα [
Refs 5th c.BC+]; ᾅδης, μόρος, [
Refs 5th c.BC+];
short, τ. ἐλπίδες
fleeting hopes, [
Refs 5th c.BC+]; τ. διήγησις
short, rapid, [
Refs 4th c.BC+]
B)
adverb,
B.1) regular τᾰχέως,
quickly, opposed to βραδέως, [
Refs 8th c.BC+]:—rarely in sense
perhaps [
Refs 2nd c.BC+]
B.2) the
adverb is also expressed by
periphrastic, διὰ ταχέων
in haste, [
Refs 5th c.BC+]
B.3)
neuter ταχύ as
adverb, [
Refs 5th c.BC+]; ἤδη ἤδη τ. τ. [
Refs 3rd c.AD+]; ἄρτι ἄρτι τ. τ. [
Refs 2nd c.AD+]; also τάχα (which see).
B.4) the
adjective ταχύς is frequently construed with Verbs, where we should use the
adverb, ταχέες δ᾽ ἱππῆες ἄγερθεν [
Refs 8th c.BC+]; δεῦρ᾽ ἀφίξεται τ. [
Refs 5th c.BC+]
C) Degrees of Comparison:
C.I)
comparative:
C.I.1) the form
τᾰχύτερος, α, ον, is used by [
Refs 5th c.BC+]; also in [
Refs 4th c.BC+], but not in good
Attic dialect; ταχύτερον as
adverb, [
Refs 5th c.BC+]
C.I.2) the more usual form is
θάσσων,
neuter θᾶσσον,
genitive ονος,
Attic dialect θάττων,
neuter θᾶττον, [
Refs 8th c.BC+], etc:—
neuter as
adverb, frequently in [
Refs 8th c.BC+]; θᾶσσον ἂν. κλύοιμι
sooner, i.e.
rather, would I hear, [
Refs 5th c.BC+]; θᾶσσον also often stands for the Positive, [
Refs 8th c.BC+]; οὐ θᾶσσον οἴσει; i.e. make haste and bring, [
Refs 5th c.BC+]; θᾶττον νοήματος
quicker than thought, [
Refs 5th c.BC+]; with a
conjunction, ὅτι θᾶσσον, like{ὅτι τάχιστα}, [
Refs 3rd c.BC+]; ἐπειδὴ θᾶττον συνεσκότασεν
as soon as. , [
Refs 5th c.BC+]; ἐὰν or ἢν θ.
as soon as. , [
Refs 5th c.BC+]; ἂν θ. [
Refs 4th c.BC+]; εἰ θ. [
Refs 5th c.BC+]; ὡς θ. [
Refs 2nd c.BC+]; θ. rarely =
sooner than, before, ἐξήλαυνον μεσημβρίας οὐ πολλῷ τινι θ. [
Refs 2nd c.AD+]
C.I.3) the form
ταχίων [ῑ],
neuter ιον, is frequently in late Prose, as [
LXX+5th c.BC+]; but condemned by [
Refs 2nd c.AD+]; τὴν ταχίονα τῆς τροφῆς παράθεσιν
earlier, sooner, [
Refs 2nd c.AD+] —
adverb τάχιον
earlier, πλέεται. περὶ τὸν Σεπτέμβριον μῆνα, οὐδὲν δὲ κωλύει κἂν τ. [
Refs]; τ. τῆς ὑποσχέσεως
sooner than they had promised, [
Refs]; τ. τοῦ παραγγέλματος [
Refs 1st c.AD+];
formerly, ἐπεσκεύασαν τὸ παρόχιον. τ. γενόμενον γυμνάσιον [
Refs 2nd c.AD+]; compare above 2 near the end
C.II)
superlative:
C.II.1) the form
ταχύτατος is rare, ταχύτατα ἅρματα [
Refs 5th c.BC+]; ταχύτατα as
adverb, [
Refs 5th c.BC+]; but both passages have been corrected.
C.II.2) the usual form is
τάχιστος, η, ον, used by [
Refs 8th c.BC+] as
adverb,
most quickly, most speedily, ὅττι τάχιστα
as soon as may be, as soon as possible, [
Refs 8th c.BC+]; so ὅσον τ. [
Refs 5th c.BC+]; ᾳ (probably) τ. [
Refs 5th c.BC+]; ὅπως τ. [
Refs 5th c.BC+]; ὡς τ. [
Refs 5th c.BC+]: these are elliptically phrases, as may be seen from the following examples, ὡς δυνατόν ἐστι τάχιστα [
Refs 5th c.BC+]; ᾗ δυνατὸν τ. [
Refs]; ὡς or ᾗ ἠδύνατο τ. [
Refs]; ὡς δύναιτο τ. [
Refs 5th c.BC+]; ὡς or ᾗ ἂν δύνωμαι τ. [
Refs 5th c.BC+]
C.II.2.b) τάχιστα after Particles of Time,
as soon as, ἐπεὶ (
Ionic dialect ἐπεί τε) τάχιστα [
Refs 5th c.BC+]; ἐπειδὴ τ. [
Refs 5th c.BC+]; ἐπεὰν τ. [
Refs 5th c.BC+]; ἐπὰν τ. [
Refs 5th c.BC+]; ἐπειδὰν τ. [
Refs]; ὅταν τ. [
Refs]. separated by one or more words, ὡς ἡμέρη τ. ἐγεγόνεε [
Refs 5th c.BC+]; ὡς γὰρ τ. εἰσῆλθον [
Refs 4th c.BC+]; ὅπως τ. [
Refs 4th c.BC+] —the same notion is sometimes expressed by the
participle, ἀπαλλαγεὶς τάχιστα, ={ὡς ἀπηλλάγη τ}, [
Refs 1st c.AD+]
C.II.3) frequently also in Prose, τὴν ταχίστην (in full, τὴν τ. ὁδόν [
Refs 5th c.BC+] as
adverb,
by the quickest way, i.e.
most quickly, [
Refs 5th c.BC+]
deñgti, Lett.
diêgt, both = 'run quickly', Polish
dążyć 'hurry'.)