ἔθνος

Ancient Greek

Etymology

Proto-Indo-European *swedh-no-, expanded from the reflexive pronoun Proto-Indo-European *we- (“self”).

Pronunciation

• (Classical): IPA: [étʰnos]
• (Koine): IPA: [ˈɛtʰno̞s]
• (Byzantine): IPA: [ˈeθnos]

Noun

ἔθνος (genitive ἔθνεος or ἔθνους); n, third declension; (ethnos)

1. group of people: tribe, family
2. group of animals: flock, herd
3. country, nation
4. (later, in plural), foreign nations, barbarians
5. (Jewish and Christian usage) gentiles, heathen
6. class, caste

Inflection

Third declension of ἔθνος, ἔθνεος (uncontracted)

Case / #	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	τό ἔθνος	τώ ἔθνεε	τά ἔθνεᾰ
Genitive	τοῦ ἔθνεος	τοῖν ἐθνέοιν	τῶν ἐθνέων
Dative	τῷ ἔθνεϊ	τοῖν ἐθνέοιν	τοῖς ἔθνεσσῐ(ν)
Accusative	τό ἔθνος	τώ ἔθνεε	τά ἔθνεᾰ
Vocative	ἔθνος	ἔθνεε	ἔθνεᾰ

Third declension of ἔθνος, ἔθνους (contracted)

Case / #	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	τό ἔθνος	τώ ἔθνει	τά ἔθνη
Genitive	τοῦ ἔθνους	τοῖν ἐθνοῖν	τῶν ἐθνῶν
Dative	τῷ ἔθνει	τοῖν ἐθνοῖν	τοῖς ἔθνεσῐ(ν)
Accusative	τό ἔθνος	τώ ἔθνει	τά ἔθνη
Vocative	ἔθνος	ἔθνει	ἔθνη

Descendants

• English: ethnic, ethnicity, heathen
• Greek: έθνος (éthnos)
• Russian: этнос (étnos), этнический (etníčeskij)

References

• LSJ
• Bauer lexicon
• Strong’s concordance number: G1484