1. praise, commend — To express approval, commendation, or praise toward someone, whether positively or in a rhetorical/ironic sense. All six NT occurrences carry the same core meaning with no polysemy; the auto-clusters reflect only inflectional variation (present indicative 1s, aorist subjunctive 1s, aorist imperative 3p, aorist indicative 3s). In 1 Cor 11:2 Paul commends the Corinthians for keeping traditions (epaino), but in 11:17,22 he withholds commendation (ouk epaino). In 1 Cor 11:22 the rhetorical question 'shall I praise you?' (epainesoo) uses the same sense deliberatively. In Rom 15:11 the OT quotation commands all peoples to praise the Lord (epainesatoosan). In Luke 16:8 the master praised (epenesen) the dishonest steward for his shrewdness. Cross-linguistically uniform: Arabic amdahu/yamdahu (praise), German loben, French louer, Hebrew meshabbeiach/yeshabbechuhu (praise/let them praise), Hindi prashansa karna (do praise) and sarahna ki (commendation), Korean chingchanhada (praise), Spanish alabar (praise). 6×
AR["أَمدَحُكُم","لِيَمْدَحُو-هُ","مَدَحَ"]·ben["আমি-কি-প্রশংসা-করব","আমি-প্রশংসা-করি","আমি-প্রশংসা-করি!","আমি-প্রশংসা-করি,","প্রশংসা-করলেন","প্রশংসা-করুক"]·DE["loben","ἐπῄνεσεν"]·EN["I-praise","let-praise","praised","should-I-praise"]·FR["louer"]·heb["אֲשַׁבֵּחַ","יְשַׁבְּחֻהוּ","מְשַׁבֵּחַ-אֲנִי","שִׁבַּח"]·HI["प्रशंसा-करता-हूँ","प्रशंसा-करूँ","प्रशंसा-करें","सराहना-की"]·ID["Aku-memuji","Haruskah-kupuji","aku-memuji","aku-memuji!","biarlah-memuji","memuji"]·IT["epenesen","lodare"]·jav["Kula-memuji","kula-memuji","kula-memuji!","kula-memuji,","ngalembana","sami-mulyakaken"]·KO["칭찬하노라","칭찬하라","칭찬하리오","칭찬하지","칭찬했다"]·PT["Louve","Louvo","louvem-no","louvo!","louvo,","louvou"]·RU["Похвалю","Хвалю","все","похвалил","хвалю!","хвалю,"]·ES["Alabo","alabo","alabo!","alabó","alábenle","¿Alabe"]·SW["-kusifii!","Nawasifuni","alimsifu","na-wamsifu","niwasifie","sikusifii,"]·TR["içinde-","övdü","övsünler","övüyorum"]·urd["تعریف-کرتا","تعریف-کرتا-ہوں","تعریف-کروں","تعریف-کریں","تعریف-کی"]
Senses
BDB / Lexicon Reference
ἐπαιν-έω, Aeolic dialect ἐπαίνημι Refs 4th c.BC+; Laconian dialect ἐπαινίω Refs 5th c.BC+imperfect ἐπῄνεον Il Refs: future -έσωRefs 7th c.BC+: but more frequently -έσομαιRefs 5th c.BC+ poetry -ήσω Refs 6th c.BC+: aorist 1 ἐπῄνεσα Refs 8th c.BC+: also Aeolic dialect prose, Refs: perfect ἐπῄνεκα Refs 5th c.BC+:—middle, aorist ἐπῃνησάμην Refs 4th c.AD+; -εσάμην Refs 3rd c.BC+:—passive, future…