εὐθανασία

Forms

εὐθᾰνᾰσίᾱ (euthanasíā) f (genitive εὐθᾰνᾰσίᾱς); first declension^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Ancient Greek εὐ- (eu-, “good”) + θάνατος (thánatos, “death”) + -ία (-íā).^[1][2] Bailly and Babiniotis derive it from the adjective εὐθάνατος (euthánatos, “dying easily”), and the CGL from the verb εὐθανατέω (euthanatéō, “to die well”).^[3][4][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

The comic poet Posidippus, in the 3rd century BC, is the first to use it, of an easy and happy death.^[6][3]

Semantic evolution

The word was always rare in Greek texts.^[7] Besides the easy or painless death, it could mean a noble death: Polybius uses it in that sense, and so does Cicero, who wrote the Greek word into a letter to Atticus.^[5][6] Suetonius quotes Augustus using it of a quick and easy death, and Philo of Alexandria has it too.^[6][3]

English took the word in the 1640s for “a gentle and easy death”, a little after the anglicized euthanasy; the sense of a legally sanctioned mercy killing is recorded in English by 1869.^[2] Modern Greek revived it as a learned word, ευθανασία (efthanasía), first for a good death and then, after English and French, for the deliberate painless killing of a person with an incurable illness.^[8]

Timeline

• 3rd century BC – The comic poet Posidippus uses it of an easy, happy death.^[6][9]
• 2nd century BC – Polybius uses it of a noble death.^[5][7]
• 1st century BC – Cicero writes the Greek word into a letter to Atticus, meaning a noble death.^[6][3]
• 1st century AD – Philo of Alexandria uses it.^[6][7]
• 2nd century AD – Suetonius quotes Augustus using it of an easy death.^[6][9]
• 1640s – English borrows it as euthanasia, “a gentle and easy death”.^[2]
• 1869 – The English sense of mercy killing is recorded.^[2]
• Modern Greek – ευθανασία (efthanasía) means both a painless death and the deliberate ending of a patient's life.^[8]

Meanings

Noun

1. An easy, painless or happy death.^[6][3][10]
2. A noble death.^[5][6]

Related words

• εὐθάνατος (euthánatos)
• εὐθανατέω (euthanatéō)
• θάνατος (thánatos)
• English euthanasia

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ a b c d e Bailly, Anatole (2020), Dictionnaire grec-français, Bailly 2020 Hugo Chávez ed., ed. Gérard Gréco et al.
4. ^ Babiniotis, Georgios (2010), Ετυμολογικό λεξικό της νέας ελληνικής γλώσσας [Etymological Dictionary of Modern Greek], Athens: Κέντρο Λεξικολογίας
5. ^ a b c d Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b c Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux
8. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
9. ^ a b Дворецкий, И. Х. (1958), Древнегреческо-русский словарь, Moscow: ГИС
10. ^ Korinthios, J. (2025), Grande Dizionario Greco Classico: Greco–Italiano, digital ed., Milan: Hoepli