αἰτία

Either a derivative of αἴτῐος (aítios, “causing; guilty”) or directly from unattested *αἶτος (*aîtos, “share”). In either case, from *h₂ey- (“to give”), whence also αἰτέω (aitéō, “to ask”).^[1]

αἰτῐ́ᾱ • (aitíā) f (genitive αἰτῐ́ᾱς); first declension

1. charge, accusation, imputation, blame, guilt, fault
   • 522 BCE – 443 BCE, Pindar, Olympian Ode 1.35
   • 458 BCE, Aeschylus, The Eumenides 579
   • 442 BCE, Sophocles, Antigone 1312
   • 460 BCE – 420 BCE, Herodotus, Histories 5.70
   • 422 BCE, Aristophanes, The Wasps 506
   • 400 BCE – 387 BCE, Plato, Apology 38C
   • 428 BCE – 347 BCE, Plato, Phaedrus 249D
   • 458 BCE, Aeschylus, The Eumenides 99
   • 380 BCE, Plato, The Republic 565B
   • 460 BCE – 420 BCE, Herodotus, Histories 5.70–71
   • 409 BCE, Sophocles, Philoctetes 1404
   • 460 BCE – 370 BCE, Hippocrates, On Joints 67
   • 430 BCE – 354 BCE, Xenophon, Memorabilia 2.8.6
   • 400 BCE – 387 BCE, Plato, Apology 33B
   • 430 BCE – 354 BCE, Xenophon, Cyropaedia 6.3.16
   • 389 BCE – 314 BCE, Aeschines, Collected Works 3.139
   • 460 BCE – 395 BCE, Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War 2.60
   • 400 BCE – 387 BCE, Plato, Crito 52A
   • 445 BCE – 380 BCE, Lysias, On the Olive Stump 1
   • 366 BCE – 348 BCE, Plato, Theaetetus 150A
   • 384 BCE – 322 BCE, Demosthenes, Letters 2.2
   • 525 BCE – 455 BCE, Aeschylus, Prometheus Bound 332
   • 460 BCE – 420 BCE, Herodotus, Histories 5.106
   • 460 BCE – 395 BCE, Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War 2.60
   • 429 BCE, Sophocles, Oedipus the King 656
   • 460 BCE – 420 BCE, Herodotus, Histories 1.26
   • 497 BCE – 405 BCE, Sophocles, Ajax 28
   • 330 BCE, Demosthenes, On the Crown 283
   • 480 BCE – 411 BCE, Antiphon of Rhamnus, Second Tetralogy 2.4
   • 460 BCE – 370 BCE, Hippocrates, On Ancient Medicine 21
   • 421 BCE, Aristophanes, Peace 640
   • 460 BCE – 420 BCE, Herodotus, Histories 9.88
   1. (in a good sense) credit
      • 467 BCE, Aeschylus, Seven Against Thebes 4
      • 380 BCE, Plato, Gorgias 503B
      • 428 BCE – 347 BCE, Plato, First Alcibiades 119A
      • 384 BCE – 322 BCE, Aristotle, Metaphysics 984B.19
      • 366 BCE – 348 BCE, Plato, Theaetetus 169A
      • 380 BCE, Plato, The Republic 435E
      • 440 BCE – 390 BCE, Andocides, On his Return 12
      • 428 BCE – 347 BCE, Plato, Laws 624A
   2. expostulation, admonition
      • 460 BCE – 395 BCE, Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War 1.69
2. (philosophy) cause
   • 384 BCE – 322 BCE, Aristotle, Physics 194B.16
   • 384 BCE – 322 BCE, Aristotle, Metaphysics 983A.26
   • 428 BCE – 347 BCE, Plato, Phaedo 97A
   • 380 BCE, Plato, The Republic 464B
   • 460 BCE – 395 BCE, Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War 4.87
   • 60 BCE – 7 BCE, Dionysius of Halicarnassus, Roman Antiquities 8.29
3. occasion, opportunity, motive
   • 522 BCE – 443 BCE, Pindar, Nemean Ode 7.11
   • 125 CE – 200 CE, Lucian, The Tyrannicide 13
4. category
   • 384 BCE – 322 BCE, Demosthenes, Against Aristocrates 75

• αἰτιατός (aitiatós) → αἰτιατικός (aitiatikós)

• Greek: αιτία (aitía)
• English: aetiology, etiology

• “αἰτία”, in Liddell & Scott (1940) A Greek–English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “αἰτία”, in Liddell & Scott (1889) An Intermediate Greek–English Lexicon, New York: Harper & Brothers
• αἰτία in Bailly, Anatole (1935) Le Grand Bailly: Dictionnaire grec-français, Paris: Hachette
• αἰτία in the Diccionario Griego–Español en línea (2006–2024)
• “αἰτία”, in Slater, William J. (1969) Lexicon to Pindar, Berlin: Walter de Gruyter
• G156 in Strong, James (1979) Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance to the Bible
• Woodhouse, S. C. (1910) English–Greek Dictionary: A Vocabulary of the Attic Language‎, London: Routledge & Kegan Paul Limited.
  • accusation idem, page 8.
  • allegation idem, page 25.
  • blame idem, page 81.
  • cause idem, page 118.
  • censure idem, page 122.
  • complaint idem, page 151.
  • crime idem, page 184.
  • criminality idem, page 184.
  • culpability idem, page 188.
  • denunciation idem, page 211.
  • foundation idem, page 341.
  • ground idem, page 375.
  • guilt idem, page 378.
  • implication idem, page 422.
  • matter idem, page 518.
  • objurgation idem, page 565.
  • obloquy idem, page 566.
  • origin idem, page 579.
  • principle idem, page 641.
  • reason idem, page 676.
  • reprehension idem, page 697.
  • reproach idem, page 698.
  • reproof idem, page 699.
  • responsibility idem, page 704.
  • starting point idem, page 812.
• “αἰτία”, in ΛΟΓΕΙΟΝ (in English, French, Spanish, German, Dutch and Chinese), University of Chicago, 2011