Plato › Greek Lexicon › χρή

χρή

chre

it is necessary

Appears 562 times across Plato's dialogues.

Frequency by work

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Dictionary (LSJ)

χρή, impers., Il. 1.216, etc.; Aeol. χρῆ Alc. 20, 35, 46; other forms are contractions (crases) of χρή (prob. orig. a neut. Subst.) with forms of εἰμί (sum): fut. χρἤσται S. OC 504, Fr. 599, Pherecr. 103, Ar. Fr. 362, Phryn.Com. 34 (on this form, for which codd. generally have χρῆσται or χρῆσθαι, v. Sch.S. OCl. c.): subj. χρῇ S. Ph. 999, E. Alc. 49, Ar. Lys. 133; opt. χρείη A. Pr. 215, S. Tr. 162, Lys. 12.44, Pl. Euthphr. 4c; inf. χρῆναι Democr. 276, Ar. Ec. 210, Antipho 5.84, etc.; also χρῆν (v. infr. III); part. neut. pl. χρηεόντα (or χρὴ ἐόντα) Democr. 174: impf. ἐχρῆν Pi. N. 7.44, A. Ch. 907, S. Fr. 107.6 (only here in S., χρῆν l. 5), Ar. Ra. 152, al., Antipho 1.1, And. 1.114, Lys. 3.22, al., Th. 6.57, Pl. Prt. 335c, D. 4.3, al., etc.: freq. also without the augm., χρῆν Pi. Fr. 123.1, S. El. 529, 579, Tr. 1133, Ar. Eq. 535 (anap.), al., Lys. 8.6, al., Th. 3.63, D. 15.33, al., etc.; both forms in Ar. Ach. 540, ἐρεῖ τις, οὐ χρῆν· ἀλλὰ τί ἐχρῆν εἴπατε: fut. χρήσει Hdt. 7.8:—A. it is necessary: c. inf. praes. aut aor., it must needs, one must or ought to do (like δεῖ, which is only once used in Hom.), νῦν δὲ χ. τετλάμεν ἔμπης Od. 3.209; τὸν νῦν χ. κομέειν 6.207, cf. Il. 1.216, 4.57, etc.; σήμαινʼ ὅ τι χ. σοι συμπράσσειν A. Pr. 297(anap.); ὅτι χ. πάσχειν ἐθέλω ib.1067; ὅ τι χρείη ποιεῖν Pl. Euthphr. 4c, cf. 9a; τούτου θανειν χρῆν αὐτὸν οὕνεκʼ ἐκ σέθεν; S. El. 579; χρὴ τὸ λέγειν Parm. 6.1: more freq. c. acc. pers. et inf., one must, ἐμὲ δὲ χ. γήραϊ πείθεσθαι Il. 23.644; τῷ σε χ. πόλεμον . . παῦσαι 7.331; οὐδέ τί σε χ. νηλεὲς ἦτορ ἔχειν 9.496; τί χ. με . . στέγειν ἢ τί λέγειν; S. Ph. 135 (lyr.): χρῆν γὰρ Κανδαύλῃ γενέσθαι κακῶς (where γενέσθαι is inf. of an impers. verb) Hdt. 1.8.—Sts. the inf. must be supplied from the context, esp. in Hom. in phrases like τίπτε μάχης. ἀποπαύεαι; οὐδέ τί σε χρή (sc. ἀποπαύεσθαι) Il. 16.721, cf. 19.420; ὅθι χ. πεζὸν ἐόντα (sc. μάρνασθαι) Od. 9.50; so in Trag. and Att., πορθεῖν ἃ μὴ χ. (sc. πορθεῖν) A. Ag. 342; φύς τʼ ἀφʼ ὧν οὐ χρῆν (sc. φῦναι) , ξὺν οἷς τʼ οὐ χρῆν (sc. ὁμιλεῖν) ὁμιλῶν S. OT 1184; ἔκανες ὃν οὐ χρῆν (sc. κτεῖναι) A. Ch. 930; ἐπιπλεύσειέ τις ὡς χ. (sc. ἐπιπλεῦσαι) Th. 2.89; θύσαντες οἷς χ. (sc. θῦσαι) Pl. R. 415e; ἀκαιρότερον ὄντα ἢ χ. Id. Plt. 307e; λαλεῖν μετὰ ἀφελείας ἔνθα χ. Longin. 34.2.; so ὡς χ. A. Ag. 1556 (anap.), etc.—The impf. freq. expresses something that ought to have been, but is not, ἐνθάδʼ οὐ παραστατεῖ, ὡς χρῆν, Ὀρέστης ib.879, cf. S. Tr. 1133; and sts. stands for χρή, χρῆν τι λέγειν ὑμᾶς σοφὸν ῳ νικήσετε Ar. Pl. 487 (anap.), cf. 432: abs., ἐρεῖτις, οὐ χρῆν· ἀλλὰ τί ἐχρῆν εἴπατε Id. Ach. 540. 2. in Hom. without inf., c. acc. pers. et gen. rei, οὐδέ τί σε χρὴ ἀφροσύνης thou hast no need of imprudence, i. e. it does not befit thee, Il. 7.109; οὐ μέν σε χ. ἔτʼ αἰδοῦς Od. 3.14; τί με χ. μητέρος αἴνου; 21.110; μυθήσεαι ὅττεό (i.e. ὅτου) σε χ. 1.124; τέο σε χ.; 4.463: τί χρὴ φίλων is found in most codd. of E. Or. 667 (δεῖ cod. V). 3. c. dat. pers. pro acc. is not found; in Il. 5.490, A. Pr. 3, the dat. belongs to the inf. μέλειν; in S. Ant. 736 Dobree restored με for γε; in E. Med. 886 ᾗ depends on μετεῖναι; in Ion 1316 Dobree read τοὺς δέ γʼ ἐνδίκους, and in Lys. 28.10 δικαίους . . ὑφελομένους was restored by Cobet. II. sts. in a less strong sense, πῶς τοῦτο περᾶσαι χρή; how is one to get through this? Theoc. 15.45; τί ἐχρῆν με ποιεῖν; what was I to do? D. 18.28; ἓν οὐδὲν κατέστη ἴαμα ὅτι χρῆν προσφερόντας ὠφελεῖν there was no one remedy by the application of which one could (or was bound to) help them, Th. 2.51, cf. 1.91. III. τὸ χρῆν (inf.) fate, destiny, E. Hec. 260 (s. v. l., τὸ χρὴ Nauck); τὸ χρή Id. HF 828; cj. for τὸ χρεών (monosyll.) in Id. Fr. 733.3, IT 1486.
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