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ἔννοια

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Etymology and origin of the Ancient Greek word ἔννοια

Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
400s BC Euripides More words from the 5th century BC
Ultimate origin
Ancient Greek νοῦς

Pronunciation

  • 5th-century BC Attic: /én.noi̯.a/[1]
  • 4th-century AD Koine: /ˈen.ny.a/[1]
  • 10th-century Byzantine: /ˈen.ny.a/[1]

Forms

ἔννοιᾰ (énnoia) f (genitive ἐννοίᾱς); first declension[1]

Etymology

It is from Ancient Greek ἐννοέω (ennoéō, “to consider, reflect upon”) with the abstract suffix -ία (-ía).[1][2] The verb is built on νοῦς (noûs, “mind”).[3][4] Babiniotis compares the parallel pairs ἐπινοέω (epinoéō) and ἐπίνοια (epínoia), ὑπονοέω (huponoéō) and ὑπόνοια (hupónoia).[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Its first texts are two plays of Euripides, where it means an intention or design: in the Hippolytus the speaker denies having even formed the intention.[5][3][6]

Semantic evolution

In the orators and Xenophon it is a thought, a purpose or an idea that comes into one's head,[3][7] and Isaeus uses it for the intention of a testator.[3][5][7] Plato made it a word for reflection and for a notion or concept, such as the notion of time, and so it entered philosophy.[3][7][2] Aristotle contrasts notions with sense impressions, and in Epicurean and Stoic philosophy the “common notions” are the general ideas all people share.[3] Euclid's axioms are headed “common notions”.[3] Later grammarians and rhetoricians used it for the sense of a word and for the thought of a passage as against its wording.[3][5]

The Septuagint has it often in Proverbs for prudence and reflection, and the New Testament speaks of the “thoughts and intentions of the heart”.[8][4][9]

In medieval vernacular Greek it also meant “worry, care”, and a form έγνοια appears.[10] Babiniotis traces the colloquial Modern Greek έγνοια (égnoia) “care, concern” to this medieval word, while the learned έννοια (énnoia) continues the ancient sense “concept, meaning”.[2][11]

Timeline

  • 5th century BC – Euripides uses it for an intention or design.[5][3]
  • 5th–4th century BC – Plato uses it for a notion or concept.[3][7]
  • 3rd century BC – Chrysippus speaks of general notions, and Euclid heads his axioms “common notions”.[3]
  • 1st century AD – The Epistle to the Hebrews and the First Epistle of Peter use it for a thought or intention.[4][9]
  • 2nd–3rd century AD – Dio Cassius uses it for the meaning of a word.[3]
  • Modern Greek – έννοια (énnoia) means a concept or meaning.[11]

Meanings

Noun

  1. An intention, purpose or design.[3][5][7]
  2. The act of thinking: reflection, consideration.[3][7]
  3. A thought or idea that occurs to someone.[7][3]
  4. (philosophy) A notion or concept; in the plural “common notions”, general ideas or axioms.[3][7]
  5. Good sense, better judgement.[3]
  6. (grammar) The meaning of a word.[3][5]
  7. (rhetoric) The thought of a passage, as opposed to its wording.[3]
  • ἐννοέω (ennoéō)
  • νοῦς (noûs)
  • ἐπίνοια (epínoia)
  • ὑπόνοια (hupónoia)

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d Babiniotis, Georgios (2010), Ετυμολογικό λεξικό της νέας ελληνικής γλώσσας [Etymological Dictionary of Modern Greek], Athens: Κέντρο Λεξικολογίας
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  4. ^ a b c Abbott-Smith, G. (1922), A Manual Greek Lexicon of the New Testament, Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark
  5. ^ a b c d e f Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge
  6. ^ Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux
  7. ^ a b c d e f g h Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
  8. ^ Lust, Johan; Eynikel, Erik; Hauspie, Katrin (2003), Greek-English Lexicon of the Septuagint, rev. ed., Stuttgart: Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft
  9. ^ a b 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
  10. ^ Kriaras, Emmanuel, Επιτομή του Λεξικού της μεσαιωνικής ελληνικής δημώδους γραμματείας 1100–1669, Κέντρο Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, https://www.greek-language.gr
  11. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
Cite this entry

“Ἔννοια.” Etymologically, 13 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/grc/%E1%BC%94%CE%BD%CE%BD%CE%BF%CE%B9%CE%B1. Accessed 14 Nov. 2026.

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