Luke 14:7

Primary Semantic Field of ἐπέχω

1. Literal physical restraint:

• Il. 14.241: ἐπὶ θρήνυϊ πόδας ἐπέσχεθον — “held his feet upon the footstool”

• Eur. Hec. 1283: στόμα ἐπέχε — “he held back his mouth” (i.e., stopped speaking)

• Soph. Aj. 847: ἐπ. ἡνίαν — “he held the reins back” (restrained the horses)

In these senses, ἐπέχω denotes holding back or restraining either motion, speech, or physical action.

2. Reflexive restraint / delay / waiting:

• Often used in the middle (with implied subject reflexivity) to mean:

  • “to wait,”

  • “to restrain oneself,”

  • “to suspend action or speech”

Examples:

• Od. 21.186: ἐπέχων — “he held back [from stringing the bow]”

• Soph. El. 1369: ἐπέχων — “he refrained / waited”

This becomes especially prominent in Thucydides, Sophocles, Herodotus, and Xenophon, where it frequently implies strategic delay or tactical restraint.

Extended / Figurative Senses

Though ἐπέχω develops attentional or intellectual meanings (e.g., to direct the mind, to fix thought upon), these are derivative—emerging from the core image of holding in or suspending motion.

The Pyrrhonist "suspension of judgment" (ἐπέχειν τὴν κρίσιν) is a clear intellectualization of the earlier concrete action: not moving forward, not deciding—holding back.