αἰώνιος

Forms

αἰώνῐος (aiṓnios) m (feminine αἰωνῐ́ᾱ, neuter αἰώνῐον); first/second declension^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Ancient Greek αἰών (aiṓn, “lifetime, age, eternity”) + -ιος (-ios).^[1][2] αἰών (aiṓn) comes from an older ⟨*αἰϝών⟩, an n-stem from Proto-Indo-European *h₂ei-u- (“lifetime, vital force”), whose relatives include Latin aevus and Sanskrit आयु (ā́yu-, “lifetime”).^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in Plato, who calls the bliss of the initiated an everlasting drunkenness in the Republic and calls the nature of the living model of the world eternal in the Timaeus.^[4][5]

Semantic evolution

Plato uses it of the eternal model of the world and of a lasting state after death, and Epicurus denied that any eternal punishment awaited the dead.^[5] Plotinus distinguished it from ἀΐδιος (aḯdios, “everlasting”).^[4][5] Hellenistic inscriptions speak of everlasting fame or memory, and in Roman times it became a standing title of the emperors and their rule.^[5][6]

In the Septuagint it renders Hebrew “of old, for ever” in phrases like the everlasting covenant, and in the New Testament it is the word of “eternal life” and “eternal fire”, contrasted with what is temporary.^[5][6] It passed into Coptic as ⲁⲓⲱⲛⲓⲟⲥ (aiōnios).^[7] Medieval vernacular Greek kept it,^[8] and Modern Greek αιώνιος (aiónios) means lasting very long or for ever, as in “eternal rest” for death; some of its uses follow French éternel and séculaire.^[9]

Timeline

• 5th–4th century BC – Plato uses it in the Republic, the Timaeus and the Laws.^[4][5]
• 4th century BC – Hyperides uses it in his funeral speech.^[2][6]
• 2nd century BC – Polybius speaks of everlasting memory.^[2][5]
• 1st century AD – The New Testament speaks of eternal life and eternal fire.^[5][6]
• 1st century AD – An inscription from Cyzicus prays for the everlasting rule of Caesar.^[5]
• 3rd century AD – Plotinus distinguishes it from ἀΐδιος (aḯdios).^[4][5]
• AD 880 – A Coptic manuscript has the borrowed word, its earliest dated record in Coptic.^[7]
• Modern Greek – αιώνιος (aiónios) means everlasting.^[9]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Lasting for an age; perpetual, everlasting.^[4][2]
2. Eternal, without beginning or end; of God and divine things.^[5][6]
3. Of the life after death: eternal, as in “eternal life” and eternal punishment.^[5][6]
4. Lifelong, held for life, of an office such as a gymnasiarch's.^[5]
5. (of Roman emperors) Everlasting, as an honorific title.^[5][6]

Word family

• αἰωνιότης (aiōniótēs)

Related words

• αἰών (aiṓn)
• ἀΐδιος (aḯdios)

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
3. ^ Beekes, Robert S. P. (2010), Etymological Dictionary of Greek, with the assistance of Lucien van Beek, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 10, Leiden; Boston: Brill
4. ^ a b c d e Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge
6. ^ a b c d e f g Bauer, Walter; Danker, Frederick W., et al. (2000), A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature, 3rd ed., Chicago: University of Chicago Press
7. ^ a b Database and Dictionary of Greek Loanwords in Coptic (DDGLC), Freie Universität Berlin and Universität Leipzig
8. ^ Kriaras, Emmanuel, Επιτομή του Λεξικού της μεσαιωνικής ελληνικής δημώδους γραμματείας 1100–1669, Κέντρο Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, https://www.greek-language.gr
9. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki