aether Latin · revision 30903

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=204–169 BC, Ennius|origins=grc αἰθήρ}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * Classical: [ˈae̯.tʰeːr]^(Wiktionary)

+ * Ecclesiastical: [ˈɛː.ter]^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''aethēr''' ''m'' (genitive aetheris); third declension^(Wiktionary)

+ Pacuvius has ''aeter''.^(OLD 2012)

+ It often keeps Greek case forms: accusative ''aethera'', genitive ''aetheros''.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+ Later prose also has the accusative ''aetherem''.^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[bor|grc|αἰθήρ|tr=aithḗr|t=upper air, sky]].^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary)^(Etymonline) Köbler connects the Greek word with [[m|grc|αἴθω|tr=aíthō|t=to kindle]] and the root [[ine-pro|*h₂eydʰ-|t=to burn]].^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Ennius speaks of the ''liquidās aetheris ōrās'', the clear shores of the upper air, and of a shout rolling through the sky to heaven.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ It is the upper regions of space, heaven or the ether, the bright substance around a god (Valerius Flaccus), and by metonymy the gods, as Virgil's heaven loaded with vows.^(OLD 2012) Cicero names Aether, with Day, as the parents of Caelus.^(OLD 2012) It is also the air and the sky, and the upper world and daylight as opposed to the underworld, where Virgil's dead would rather bear poverty ''aethere in altō''.^(OLD 2012)

+

+ Church Latin glosses it “sky, upper air”.^(Stelten 1995) In Medieval and New Latin it was the ether or quintessence of alchemy.^(Wiktionary) English ''ether'' (late 14th century), “upper regions of space”, comes from it, in part through Old French.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 204–169 BC – Ennius of the upper air and the sky.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 220–130 BC – Pacuvius in the form ''aeter''.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 81–43 BC – Cicero of the god Aether.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 70–19 BC – Virgil of the gods and the upper world.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * late 14th century – English [[m|en|ether]].^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # The upper air, [[m|en|heaven]], the [[m|en|ether]]; the gods.^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary)^(Stelten 1995)

+ # ''(personified)'' Aether, a god.^(OLD 2012)

+ # The air, the [[m|en|sky]]; the upper world, daylight (as opposed to the underworld).^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary)

+ # ''(Medieval and New Latin)'' Ether, the [[m|en|quintessence]].^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[aetherius]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[aethra]]

+ * [[en|ether]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}