ἐφήμερος

Forms

ἐφήμερος (ephḗmeros) m or f (neuter ἐφήμερον); second declension^[1] Doric ἐπάμερος and ἐφάμερος (Pindar), Ionic ἐπήμερος.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is formed from Ancient Greek ἐπι- (epi-, “on”) + ἡμέρα (hēmérā, “day”) + -ος (-os), literally “lasting for the day”.^[1][4][5] LSJ treats it as the more common form, especially in prose, of ἐφημέριος (ephēmérios).^[2] Before the rough breathing of the noun the prefix appears as ⟨ἐφ-⟩.^[1][5]

The noun belongs with Homeric ἦμαρ (êmar, “day”), which goes back through Proto-Hellenic *ā́mər to Proto-Indo-European *Héh₂mr̥ (“day”).^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Semonides calls human beings ἐφήμεροι, creatures who live only for the day, and Pindar uses the same word of mortals.^[2][6]

Semantic evolution

In tragedy and prose it describes what lasts a short time: Euripides speaks of short-lived fortunes, and Thucydides writes of people who came to regard bodies and money as things of a day.^[2] Aeschylus' Prometheus and Aristophanes use it of human beings, the creatures of a day, and Plato's Laws has the address “friends, truly creatures of a day”.^[2] In Hippocratic medicine an ἐφήμερος fever is one that lasts a single day, and later writers speak of daily food; the phrase appears in the Epistle of James for the food a poor person needs for the day.^[2][7][8] Plutarch uses it of a poison that kills on the same day.^[2]

Medieval Greek kept the word with its ancient sense.^[9] In Modern Greek εφήμερος (efímeros) is a learned word: its sense “short-lived” continues the ancient one, while its use for insects and plants that live a single day is modelled on New Latin ephemeron, itself from the ancient name of a short-lived insect.^[10][5] English took ephemera in the late 14th century as a medical term from Medieval Latin ephemera (a fever lasting a day), and ephemeron, the short-lived insect, from Greek in the 1620s.^[11]

Timeline

• 7th–6th century BC – Semonides calls human beings creatures of a day.^[2][6]
• 6th–5th century BC – Pindar and Aeschylus use it of mortals.^[2][12][6]
• 5th century BC – Thucydides uses it of lives and property felt to be short-lived, and Euripides of fortunes.^[2][12][6]
• 5th century BC – The Hippocratic Aphorisms use it of a fever that lasts one day.^[2][6]
• 1st century AD – The Epistle of James uses it of daily food.^[7][2]
• 1st–2nd century AD – Plutarch uses it of a poison that kills on the same day.^[2][6]
• Late 14th century – English borrows ephemera as a medical term through Medieval Latin.^[11]
• Modern Greek – The learned word εφήμερος (efímeros) means short-lived.^[10][5]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Lasting only a day; hence short-lived, transient.^[2][13]
2. Of human beings, as a noun: creatures of a day, mortals.^[2]
3. For the day, daily: of food, of a one-day fever.^[2][7][8]
4. Of a poison: killing on the same day.^[2]

Word family

• ἐφημερεύω (ephēmereúō)
• ἐφημερία (ephēmeríā)
• ἐφημέριος (ephēmérios)
• ἐφημερίς (ephēmerís)

Related words

• ἡμέρα (hēmérā)
• ἐπί (epí)
• Medieval Latin ephemera
• English ephemeral
• English ephemeron

Usage notes

Photius and the Lexica Segueriana gloss it as πρόσκαιρος (próskairos, “temporary”).^[14][15]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g 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 Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
3. ^ Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
4. ^ Βικιλεξικό, the Greek Wiktionary, https://el.wiktionary.org
5. ^ a b c d Babiniotis, Georgios (2010), Ετυμολογικό λεξικό της νέας ελληνικής γλώσσας [Etymological Dictionary of Modern Greek], Athens: Κέντρο Λεξικολογίας
6. ^ a b c d e f Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge
7. ^ a b c 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
8. ^ a b United Bible Societies (2023), UBS Dictionary of the Greek New Testament (revised Louw–Nida semantic domains), open-licence ed.
9. ^ Kriaras, Emmanuel, Επιτομή του Λεξικού της μεσαιωνικής ελληνικής δημώδους γραμματείας 1100–1669, Κέντρο Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, https://www.greek-language.gr
10. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
11. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
12. ^ a b Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux
13. ^ Korinthios, J. (2025), Grande Dizionario Greco Classico: Greco–Italiano, digital ed., Milan: Hoepli
14. ^ Photius, Lexicon, ed. Christos Theodoridis, vol. 1 (Α–Δ) (Berlin: De Gruyter, 1982); ed. Richard Porson (Cambridge, 1822)
15. ^ Lexica Segueriana, in Immanuel Bekker, ed. (1814), Anecdota Graeca I, Berlin: Nauck