ἔθνος

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Ancient Greek[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From Ancient Greek ἔθω (éthō), equivalent to Proto-Indo-European *swedʰ-no-, expanded from the reflexive pronoun Proto-Indo-European *swe- (“self”).

Pronunciation[edit]

Noun[edit]

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

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

Inflection[edit]

Third declension of ἔθνος, ἔθνεος (uncontracted)
Case / # Singular Dual Plural
Nominative τὸ ἔθνος τὼ ἔθνεε τὰ ἔθνεᾰ
Genitive τοῦ ἔθνεος τοῖν ἐθνέοιν τῶν ἐθνέων
Dative τῷ ἔθνεϊ τοῖν ἐθνέοιν τοῖς ἔθνεσσῐ(ν)
Accusative τὸ ἔθνος τὼ ἔθνεε τὰ ἔθνεᾰ
Vocative ἔθνος ἔθνεε ἔθνεᾰ
This inflection pattern originally had a sigma (i.e. *ἔθνεσος), which was dropped early on in the history of Ancient Greek.
Third declension of ἔθνος, ἔθνους (contracted)
Case / # Singular Dual Plural
Nominative τὸ ἔθνος τὼ ἔθνει τὰ ἔθνη
Genitive τοῦ ἔθνους τοῖν ἐθνοῖν τῶν ἐθνῶν
Dative τῷ ἔθνει τοῖν ἐθνοῖν τοῖς ἔθνεσῐ(ν)
Accusative τὸ ἔθνος τὼ ἔθνει τὰ ἔθνη
Vocative ἔθνος ἔθνει ἔθνη
The irregular accentuation of this paradigm is explained by the fact that it is the contracted version of the above paradigm.

Derived terms[edit]

Descendants[edit]

from the spoken by-form ἕθνος (héthnos):

References[edit]

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