Ancient Greek

Alternative forms

• οὐσίη ‎(ousíē) Ionic
• ἐσσία ‎(essía), ὠσία ‎(ōsía) Doric

Noun

οὐσία • ‎(ousía) f ‎(genitive οὐσίας); first declension

1. that which is one's own, one's substance, property
   • 497 BCE – 405 BCE, Sophocles, Women of Trachis 911
   • 416 BCE, Euripides, Herakles 337
   • 412 BCE, Euripides, Helen 1253
   • 391 BCE, Aristophanes, Assemblywomen 729
   • 445 BCE – 380 BCE, Lysias, On the Confiscation of the Property of the Brother of Nicias 17
   • 380 BCE, Plato, The Republic 551.B
   • 440 BCE – 390 BCE, Andocides, On the Mysteries 74
   • 445 BCE – 380 BCE, Lysias, On the Refusal of a Pension 11
   • 342 BCE – 291 BCE, Diphilus, Collected Works 32.7
   • Anaxipp. 1.32
   • 440 BCE – 390 BCE, Andocides, On the Mysteries 118
   • 445 BCE – 380 BCE, Lysias, Against Diogeiton 4
2. (philosophy) Synonym of φύσις ‎(phúsis) stable being, immutable reality
   • 470 BCE – 385 BCE, Philolaus, Collected Works 11
   • 380 BCE, Plato, The Republic 359.A–B
   • 350 BCE, Aristotle, Parts of Animals 646.A.25
   • 371 BCE – 287 BCE, Theophrastus, Enquiry into Plants 6.1.1
   • 360 BCE, Plato, Timaeus 29.C
   • 360 BCE, Plato, The Sophist 232.C
   • 428 BCE – 347 BCE, Plato, Laws 966.E
   • 350 BCE, Aristotle, Parts of Animals 641.B.32
   • 384 BCE – 322 BCE, Aristotle, Metaphysics 1003.B.7
   • 366 BCE – 348 BCE, Plato, Theaetetus 185.C
   1. substance, essence
      • 399 BCE, Plato, Euthyphro 11.A
      • 384 BCE – 322 BCE, Aristotle, Metaphysics 1003.B.7
      • 384 BCE – 322 BCE, Aristotle, Posterior Analytics 83.A.24
      • 350 BCE, Aristotle, Parts of Animals 643.A.27
      • 384 BCE – 322 BCE, Aristotle, On the Soul 402.A.8
   2. true nature of that which is a member of a kind
      • 428 BCE – 347 BCE, Plato, Phaedo 65.D
      • 428 BCE – 347 BCE, Plato, Phaedo 92.D
      • 384 BCE – 322 BCE, Aristotle, Posterior Analytics 90.B.30
      • 380 BCE, Plato, The Republic 509.B
      • 428 BCE – 347 BCE, Plato, Phaedrus 245.E
      • 384 BCE – 322 BCE, Aristotle, Metaphysics 1017.B.22
      • 384 BCE – 322 BCE, Aristotle, Metaphysics 1031.A.1
   3. the possession of such a nature, substantiality
      • 380 BCE, Plato, The Republic 509.B
   4. (in the concrete) the primary real, the substratum underlying all change and process in nature
      • 384 BCE – 322 BCE, Aristotle, Fragments 208
      • 350 BCE, Aristotle, On the Heavens 298.A.29
      • 384 BCE – 322 BCE, Aristotle, Metaphysics 1017.B.10
      • 350 BCE, Aristotle, On the Heavens 298.B.3
      • 360 BCE, Plato, The Sophist 246.A
   5. (logic) substance as the leading category
      • 384 BCE – 322 BCE, Aristotle, Categories 1.B.26
      • 384 BCE – 322 BCE, Aristotle, Metaphysics 1045.B.29
      • 384 BCE – 322 BCE, Aristotle, Categories 2.B.5
      • 384 BCE – 322 BCE, Aristotle, Categories 2.A.15
      • 384 BCE – 322 BCE, Aristotle, Metaphysics 1035.B.29
      • 384 BCE – 322 BCE, Aristotle, Metaphysics 1043.A.30
      • 384 BCE – 322 BCE, Aristotle, On the Soul 412.A.16
      • 384 BCE – 322 BCE, Aristotle, Metaphysics 1037.A.5
      • 384 BCE – 322 BCE, Aristotle, On the Soul 412.A.19
      • 384 BCE – 322 BCE, Aristotle, Metaphysics 1035.B.15
      • 384 BCE – 322 BCE, Aristotle, Posterior Analytics 87.A.36
   6. (various uses after Plato and Aristotle)
      • Zeno, Stoic 1.24
      • Polystr. 12
      • 204 CE – 270 CE, Plotinus, Collected Works 2.4.5
      • 204 CE – 270 CE, Plotinus, Collected Works 2.6.1
      • 204 CE – 270 CE, Plotinus, Collected Works 4.7.8
      • 204 CE – 270 CE, Plotinus, Collected Works 6.1.2
   7. Pythagorean name for I
      • Theol., Ar. 6
3. name of a plaster
   • Aet. 15.15.45
4. a fire-resisting substance
   • Zos., Alch. 168.B
5. (in magic) a material thing by which a connection is established between the person to be acted upon and the supernatural agent

Inflection

This entry needs an inflection-table template.

- nom. is οὐσία.

Descendants

• Greek: ουσία ‎(ousía)

References

• οὐσία in Liddell & Scott (1940) A Greek–English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• οὐσία in Liddell & Scott (1889) An Intermediate Greek–English Lexicon, New York: Harper & Brothers
• «οὐσία» in Bailly, Anatole (1935) Le Grand Bailly: Dictionnaire grec-français, Paris: Hachette
• “G3776”, in Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance to the Bible, 1979
• «οὐσία» in Trapp, Erich, et al. (1994–2007) Lexikon zur byzantinischen Gräzität besonders des 9.-12. Jahrhunderts [the Lexicon of Byzantine Hellenism, Particularly the 9th-12th Centuries], Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften
• Woodhouse, S. C. (1910) English-Greek Dictionary: A Vocabulary of the Attic Language, London: Routledge & Kegan Paul Limited.
  • affair idem, page 16.
  • being idem, page 72.
  • competence idem, page 151.
  • essence idem, page 283.
  • existence idem, page 292.
  • fortune idem, page 340.
  • Fortune idem, page 1011.
  • inheritance idem, page 440.
  • possession idem, page 628.
  • property idem, page 653.
  • reality idem, page 676.
  • substance idem, page 832.