λέγειν (legein)

λέγειν is an Ancient Greek form of λέγω, meaning “to say, speak, tell”. It is the present active infinitive.

Found 4,682 times in the Ancient Greek texts on Socratos.

Where it is used

Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War 1.39.1: ‘καὶ φασὶ δὴ δίκῃ πρότερον ἐθελῆσαι κρίνεσθαι, ἥν γε οὐ τὸν προύχοντα καὶ ἐκ τοῦ ἀσφαλοῦς προκαλούμενον λέγειν τι δοκεῖν δεῖ, ἀλλὰ τὸν ἐς ἴσον τά τε ἔργα ὁμοίως καὶ τοὺς λόγους πρὶν διαγωνίζεσθαι καθιστάντα.

Plutarch, De fraterno amore 17: … ιώθησαν καὶ διεφθάρησαν, ὥστε πάντων ἀφαιρεθέντες; ὑπὸ τοῦ τυράννου, καὶ φυγάδες καὶ πένητες καὶ ʽ ὀλίγου δέω λέγειν’ ἕτεροι τῶν πρότερον γενόμενοι, μόνῳ διέμειναν οἱ αὐτοὶ τῷ μισεῖν ἀλλήλους. ὅθεν οὐχ ἥκιστα δεῖ περὶ τὰ μικρὰ …

Plutarch, De Genio Socratis 18: … ειλας; εἰ γὰρ οὐ πολὺ προείληφας, διωξόμεθα καὶ Ἱπποσθενείδας οὐκ οἶδʼ εἶπεν ὦ Καφεισία ʽ δεῖ γὰρ ὑμῖν τἀληθῆ λέγειν̓, εἰ καταλάβοις ἂν τὸν ἄνθρωπον ἵππῳ χρώμενον τῶν ἐν Θήβαις κρατίστῳ· γνώριμος δʼ ὑμῖν ὁ ἄνθρωπός ἐστι, τῶν Μέ …

All forms of λέγω (conjugation table)

Source: Socratos (socratos.org), a free reader for Ancient Greek and Latin. Grammar from the Perseus Treebank and Morpheus; dictionary entries from Liddell-Scott-Jones, A Greek-English Lexicon (Perseus Digital Library, CC BY-SA). Counts are from the texts on Socratos.