ἐκλείπω
ekleipō

Greek verb

Last edited: 2025-02-05
Primary meaning to be eclipsed
Literal translation to fail
Variants
ἐκλείπω ekleipō
Edited by
to be eclipsed astronomical phenomenon, solar phenomenon, lunar phenomenon

Κατὰ γὰρ τὸν αὐτὸν χρόνον οἷς μὲν ὁ ἥλιος ὅλος ἐκλείπει, οἷς δὲ τὸ ἥμισυ, οἷς δὲ τὸ ἔλαττον τοῦ ἡμίσεος, οἷς δὲ τὴν ἀρχὴν οὐδὲν μέρος τοῦ ἡλίου ἐκλελοιπὸς θεωρεῖται.

‘For at the same time, for some the Sun is eclipsed whole, but for some half of it, and for some less than half, and for some no part of the Sun at all is observed to have been eclipsed.’

— Geminus 10.4

Genre: astronomy
Date: 1st century BCE

Geminus. 1975. Géminos, Introduction aux Phénomènes, ed. G. Aujac. Paris: Les Belles Lettres. 61

to fail verb of visual perception

Διόπερ οὐδὲ ῥητέον αὐτὰς κυρίως ἐκλείψεις, ἀλλ’ ἐπιπροσθήσεις. Τοῦ μὲν γὰρ ἡλίου οὐδὲ ἕν μέρος οὐδέποτε ἐκλείψει· ἡμῖν δὲ ἀθεώρητος γίνεται διὰ τὴν ἐπιπρόσθησιν τῆς σελήνης.

‘And therefore, it should not be said that these [solar eclipses] are ‘failings’ in the proper sense, but rather ‘coverings’. For not one part of the Sun will ever ‘fail’: it becomes invisible to us due to the covering by the Moon.’

— Geminus 10.2

Genre: astronomy
Date: 1st century BCE

Geminus. 1975. Géminos, Introduction aux Phénomènes, ed. G. Aujac. Paris: Les Belles Lettres. 61

Cite this entry
APA (7th)
Peeters, T. (2025). ἐκλείπω (Lemma #2715). The ZODIAC Glossary: A Cross-Cultural Glossary of Ancient Astral Science. https://zodiacglossary.github.io/lemma/2715/
Chicago (Author-Date)
Peeters, T. (2025). ἐκλείπω (Lemma #2715). The ZODIAC Glossary: A Cross-Cultural Glossary of Ancient Astral Science. https://zodiacglossary.github.io/lemma/2715/
MLA (9th)
Peeters, T. (2025). ἐκλείπω (Lemma #2715). The ZODIAC Glossary: A Cross-Cultural Glossary of Ancient Astral Science. https://zodiacglossary.github.io/lemma/2715/
Harvard
Peeters, T. (2025) ἐκλείπω (Lemma #2715), The ZODIAC Glossary: A Cross-Cultural Glossary of Ancient Astral Science. Available at: https://zodiacglossary.github.io/lemma/2715/ (Accessed: December 1, 2025).
BibTeX 
@misc{zodiac2715,
	note = {[Online; accessed 2025-12-01]},
	author = {Peeters, Thomas},
	year = {2025},
	title = {ἐκλείπω ({Lemma} #2715)},
	url = {https://zodiacglossary.github.io/lemma/2715/},
	howpublished = {https://zodiacglossary.github.io/lemma/2715/},
}