οὐρανός

See also: Οὐρανός

Ancient Greek

Alternative forms

• ὄρανος (Aeolic)
• ὠρανός (Doric, Boeotian)

Etymology

Probably from an older *ϝορσανός (*worsanós), which may be related to οὑρέω (houréō, “to urinate”), from *h₁u̯orsei̯e-, from Proto-Indo-European *h₁u̯ers- (“rain”) (compare Sanskrit वर्षति (varṣati, “it rains”).

A folk etymology advanced by Aristotle interpreted it as ὅρος (hóros, “limit”) and ἄνω (ánō, “up”).

Pronunciation

• (5th BC Attic): IPA: /o͜oranós/

• (1st BC Egyptian): IPA: /uːranós/

• (4th AD Koine): IPA: /uranós/

• (10th AD Byzantine): IPA: /uranós/

• (15th AD Constantinopolitan): IPA: /uɾanós/

Noun

οὐρανός • (ouranós) (genitive οὐρανοῦ) m, second declension

1. the vaulted sky, on which the stars were attached and the sun traveled: sky, heaven
2. the region above this vault, the home of the gods
3. (philosophy) the universe
4. anything shaped like the sky: vaulted ceiling, tent

Inflection

Second declension of οὐρᾰνός, οὐρᾰνοῦ

Case / #	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	οὐρᾰνός	οὐρᾰνώ	οὐρᾰνοί
Genitive	οὐρᾰνοῦ	οὐρᾰνοῖν	οὐρᾰνῶν
Dative	οὐρᾰνῷ	οὐρᾰνοῖν	οὐρᾰνοῖς
Accusative	οὐρᾰνόν	οὐρᾰνώ	οὐρᾰνούς
Vocative	οὐρᾰνέ	οὐρᾰνώ	οὐρᾰνοί

Classical authors did not use the plural forms, which are not seen until later Greek, especially in Christian writings such as the New Testament.

Derived terms

• Οὐρανός (Ouranós)
• Οὐρανία (Ouranía)

References

• οὐρανός in A Greek–English Lexicon by Liddell & Scott, Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1940
• BDAG
• Strong’s concordance number: G3772