ergon

Hello, you have come here looking for the meaning of the word ergon. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word ergon, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say ergon in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word ergon you have here. The definition of the word ergon will help you to be more precise and correct when speaking or writing your texts. Knowing the definition ofergon, as well as those of other words, enriches your vocabulary and provides you with more and better linguistic resources.

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Ancient Greek ἔργον (érgon). Doublet of erg and work.

In philosophy, the word is loaned in its capacity as a technical term in Aristotelianism, in English usage following Alexander Grant, The Ethics of Aristotle (1857).

In classical thermodynamics, the term is coined as translating German Werk. Rudolf Clausius (1864) made a technical distinction between Werk and Arbeit, both translating to English "work", and suggested Ergon for the purposes of the translation of his terminology into other modern languages.

The author has used the German word Werk, which is almost synonymous with Arbeit, but proposes the term Ergon as more suitable for introduction into other languages. The Greek word ἔργον is so closely allied to the English word work, that both are quite well suited to designate two magnitudes which are essentially the same, but measured according to different units.

—T.A.H.", T. A. Hirst (trans.), The Mechanical Theory of Heat (1867), Appendix A. to Sixth Memoir , "On Terminology" (translator's note), p. 254.

Noun

ergon (uncountable)

  1. (physics) Work, measured in terms of the quantity of heat to which it is equivalent.
  2. (Classical philosophy) A task or function of a creature.
    • 16 March 1874, Punch Magazine, p. 212
      "O where is that humming stuff now / With Irish 'vis' and 'vir' gone? / We haven't brain enough now / For Aristotle's ergon!"

Derived terms

Anagrams