Etymologically
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eternity

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 22 October 2026 at 21:29. This address is a permanent link to this version.
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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.