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eternity

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Etymology and origin of the English word eternity

Confidence
Established
Formation
Borrowing
First attested
c. 1374, Chaucer's Boece
Borrowed from
Old French eternité via Middle English
Ultimate origin
Latin aevum

Pronunciation

  • UK: /ɪˈtɜːnɪti/[1]
  • US: /əˈtɜɹnəti/, /ɪ-/[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English eternite,[2][3][4] borrowed from Old French eternité (“eternity, perpetuity”) (12th century),[5][2][6] from Latin aeternitās,[5][2][3] a noun formed on aeternus (“lasting, without beginning or end”), the source of eternal.[5][7][6] Etymonline explains the Latin adjective as a contraction of aeviternus (“of great age”), from aevum (“age”), and traces this to Proto-Indo-European *aiw- (“vital force, life; long life, eternity”).[5] In Anglo-Norman the noun is recorded from the early 13th century, in a phrase meaning "for ever".[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

The quality or fact of being eternal; eternal existence, and also time without end: c. 1374, in Chaucer's translation of Boethius.[2] Etymonline dates the sense "quality of being eternal" to the late 14th century.[5]

Semantic evolution

By c. 1420 the word was used loosely for a very long or indefinite continuance, especially the "immortality" of fame.[2] Infinite time in the full sense, without beginning or end, is recorded from 1587 (the 1580s in Etymonline), and philosophers distinguished the past eternity (1651, Hobbes) from the future one.[2][5] Johnson (1755) defined it first as "duration without beginning or end".[9] In opposition to time it came to mean the condition the soul enters at death (1604, Hamlet) and, in metaphysics, timelessness (1662, Hobbes).[2] From 1700 an eternity could be any stretch of time that feels endless.[2] Carlyle made frequent use of the eternities, the eternal truths (1843), and the word served as a mock title in 1791.[2]

Timeline

  • c. 1374 – the quality of being eternal; time without end (Chaucer).[2]
  • c. 1420 – long or indefinite continuance, as of fame.[2]
  • 1587 – infinite time, without beginning or end;[2] the 1580s in Etymonline.[5]
  • 1604 – the state after death (Hamlet).[2]
  • 1651 – the past eternity (Hobbes).[2]
  • 1662 – timelessness, in metaphysics.[2]
  • 1700 – a period that seems endless.[2]
  • 1843 – the eternities (Carlyle).[2]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. Time without beginning or end; infinite time.
  2. The quality or state of being eternal.
  3. (theology) Endless existence after death; the afterlife.
  4. (informal) A period that seems endless: The last mile felt like an eternity.
  5. (usually plural) The eternal truths or realities.

Word family

  • coeternity

References

  1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
  4. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  5. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  6. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  7. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  8. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
  9. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.

Related etymologies

Cite this entry

“Eternity.” Etymologically, 22 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/en/eternity. Accessed 23 Oct. 2026.

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