οὐσία

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See also: ουσία

Ancient Greek

Alternative forms

Etymology

From ὤν, οὖσᾰ, ὄν (ṓn, oûsa, ón, being), the present participle of εἰμῐ́ (eimí) (“to be”), + -ῐ́ᾱ (-íā, abstract noun suffix).[1]

Pronunciation

 

Noun

οὐσίᾱ (ousíāf (genitive οὐσίᾱς); first declension

  1. that which is one's own, one's substance, property
  2. (philosophy) Synonym of φύσις (phúsis) stable being, immutable reality
    1. substance, essence
    2. true nature of that which is a member of a kind
    3. the possession of such a nature, substantiality
    4. (in the concrete) the primary real, the substratum underlying all change and process in nature
    5. (logic) substance as the leading category
    6. (various uses after Plato and Aristotle)
    7. Pythagorean name for I
      • Theol., Ar. 6
  3. name of a plaster
    • Aet. 15.15.45
  4. a fire-resisting substance
  5. (in magic) a material thing by which a connection is established between the person to be acted upon and the supernatural agent

Inflection

Derived terms

Descendants

  • Greek: ουσία (ousía)
  • Arabic: أُوسِيَّة (ʔūsiyya)
  • Old Church Slavonic: естьство (estĭstvo) (calque) (see there for further descendants)

References

  1. ^ Beekes, Robert S. P. (2010) “οὐσία”, in Etymological Dictionary of Greek (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 10), with the assistance of Lucien van Beek, Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 1131

Further reading