γῆ

See also: γη, Γη, Γῆ, and Appendix:Variations of "ge"

Ancient Greek

Alternative forms

• γέᾱ (géā) — Attic, uncontracted
• γαῖᾰ (gaîă), αἶᾰ (aîă), (late forms) γαίη (gaíē), αἴη (aíē) — Epic
• γέη (géē), γαῖᾰ (gaîă), αἶᾰ (aîă) — Ionic
• γῆᾰ (gêă), γεῖᾰ (geîă) — Boeotian
• γᾶ (gâ) — Lesbian
• γᾶ (gâ), γαῖᾰ (gaîă), (late forms) γαίᾱ (gaíā), αἴᾱ (aíā) — Doric
• ζᾶ (zâ) — Cypriot

Etymology

Contraction of γαῖᾰ (gaîă), from Proto-Hellenic *gaya, from a pre-Indo-European Pre-Greek substrate. The names Δημήτηρ (Dēmḗtēr) and Ποσειδῶν (Poseidôn), and also Mycenaean Greek 𐀁𐀚𐀯𐀅𐀃𐀚 (e-ne-si-da-o-ne, “earthshaking (epithet of Poseidon)”), point to an alternative form *δᾶ (*dâ).

Pronunciation

 

• IPA^(key): /ɡɛ̂ː/ → /ˈʝi/ → /ˈʝi/

• (5^th BCE Attic) IPA^(key): /ɡɛ̂ː/
• (1^st CE Egyptian) IPA^(key): /ˈɡe̝/
• (4^th CE Koine) IPA^(key): /ˈʝi/
• (10^th CE Byzantine) IPA^(key): /ˈʝi/
• (15^th CE Constantinopolitan) IPA^(key): /ˈʝi/

Noun

γῆ • (gê) f (genitive γῆς); first declension

1. earth; land
2. country
3. soil

Declension

First declension of ἡ γῆ; τῆς γῆς (Attic)

Case / #	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	ἡ γῆ hē gê	τὼ γᾶ tṑ gâ	αἱ γαῖ hai gaî
Genitive	τῆς γῆς tês gês	τοῖν γαῖν toîn gaîn	τῶν γῶν tôn gôn
Dative	τῇ γῇ tēî gēî	τοῖν γαῖν toîn gaîn	ταῖς γαῖς taîs gaîs
Accusative	τὴν γῆν tḕn gên	τὼ γᾶ tṑ gâ	τᾱ̀ς γᾶς tā̀s gâs
Vocative	γῆ gê	γᾶ gâ	γαῖ gaî
Notes:	This table gives Attic inflectional endings. For declension in other dialects, see Appendix:Ancient Greek dialectal declension.

First declension of γῆ; γῆς (Epic)

Case / #	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	γῆ gê	γᾶ gâ	γαῖ gaî
Genitive	γῆς gês	γαῖν gaîn	γῶν gôn
Dative	γῇ gēî	γαῖν gaîn	γαῖς gaîs
Accusative	γῆν gên	γᾶ gâ	γᾶς gâs
Vocative	γῆ gê	γᾶ gâ	γαῖ gaî
Notes:	Dialects other than Attic are not well attested. Some forms may be based on conjecture. Use with caution.

First declension of ἡ γῆ; τῆς γῆς (Ionic)

Case / #	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	ἡ γῆ hē gê	τὼ γᾶ tṑ gâ	αἱ γαῖ hai gaî
Genitive	τῆς γῆς tês gês	τοῖν γαῖν toîn gaîn	τῶν γῶν tôn gôn
Dative	τῇ γῇ tēî gēî	τοῖν γαῖν toîn gaîn	τῇσῐ / τῇσῐν γαῖς tēîsĭ(n) gaîs
Accusative	τὴν γῆν tḕn gên	τὼ γᾶ tṑ gâ	τᾱ̀ς γᾶς tā̀s gâs
Vocative	γῆ gê	γᾶ gâ	γαῖ gaî
Notes:	Dialects other than Attic are not well attested. Some forms may be based on conjecture. Use with caution.

Derived terms

• Ἀνδρόγεως (Andrógeōs)
• γεωγραφία (geōgraphía)
• γεωμετρία (geōmetría)
• γεωργός (geōrgós, “farmer”)
• γήῐ̈ος (gḗĭ̈os)
• γήπεδον (gḗpedon)
• γῆς σεισμός (gês seismós, “earthquake”)
• εὔγειος (eúgeios)
• εὔγεως (eúgeōs)

Related terms

• γαῖα (gaîa, “earth”)

Descendants

• Greek: γη (gi)

Further reading

• “γῆ”, in Liddell & Scott (1940), A Greek–English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “γῆ”, in Liddell & Scott (1889), An Intermediate Greek–English Lexicon, New York: Harper & Brothers
• “γῆ”, in Autenrieth, Georg (1891), A Homeric Dictionary for Schools and Colleges, New York: Harper and Brothers
• γῆ in Bailly, Anatole (1935), Le Grand Bailly: Dictionnaire grec-français, Paris: Hachette
• Bauer, Walter et al. (2001), A Greek–English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature, Third edition, Chicago: University of Chicago Press
• γῆ in Cunliffe, Richard J. (1924), A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect: Expanded Edition, Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, published 1963
• γῆ in the Diccionario Griego–Español en línea (2006–2026)
• G1093 in Strong, James (1979), Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance to the Bible
• Woodhouse, S. C. (1910), English–Greek Dictionary: A Vocabulary of the Attic Language‎^[1], London: Routledge & Kegan Paul Limited.
  • asia idem, page 44.
  • assume idem, page 47.
  • country idem, page 178.
  • domain idem, page 246.
  • dominion idem, page 247.
  • earth idem, page 259.
  • field idem, page 317.
  • gaea (earth regarded as a goddess) idem, page 351.
  • glebe idem, page 361.
  • globe idem, page 362.
  • ground idem, page 375.
  • land idem, page 475.
  • messene idem, page 527.
  • mould idem, page 543.
  • persia idem, page 607.
  • simois (river) idem, page 776.
  • soil idem, page 791.
  • terra firma idem, page 863.
  • territory idem, page 863.
  • teucri idem, page 863.
  • world idem, page 989.
• γῆ, in ΛΟΓΕΙΟΝ [Logeion] Dictionaries for Ancient Greek and Latin (in English, French, Spanish, German, Dutch and Chinese), University of Chicago, since 2011