# οὐσία
## Ancient Greek
### Alternative forms

* οὐσίη (ousíē) — Ionic
* ἐσσία (essía), ὠσία (ōsía) — Doric

### Etymology

From ὤν, οὖσᾰ, ὄν (ṓn, oûsa, ón, “being”), the present participle of εἰμῐ́ (eimí) (“to be”), + -ῐ́ᾱ (-íā, abstract noun suffix).

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /uː.sí.aː/ → /uˈsi.a/ → /uˈsi.a/
* (5th BCE Attic) IPA: /uː.sí.aː/
* (1st CE Egyptian) IPA: /uˈsi.a/
* (4th CE Koine) IPA: /uˈsi.a/
* (10th CE Byzantine) IPA: /uˈsi.a/
* (15th CE Constantinopolitan) IPA: /uˈsi.a/

### Noun

οὐσίᾱ • (ousíā) f (genitive οὐσίᾱς); first declension
* 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 551B
** 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
* (philosophy) Synonym of φύσις (phúsis) stable being, immutable reality
** 470 BCE – 385 BCE, Philolaus, Collected Works 11
** 380 BCE, Plato, The Republic 359A–B
** 350 BCE, Aristotle, Parts of Animals 646A.25
** 371 BCE – 287 BCE, Theophrastus, Enquiry into Plants 6.1.1
** 360 BCE, Plato, Timaeus 29C
** 360 BCE, Plato, The Sophist 232C
** 428 BCE – 347 BCE, Plato, Laws 966E
** 350 BCE, Aristotle, Parts of Animals 641B.32
** 384 BCE – 322 BCE, Aristotle, Metaphysics 1003B.7
** 366 BCE – 348 BCE, Plato, Theaetetus 185C
** substance, essence
*** 399 BCE, Plato, Euthyphro 11A
*** 384 BCE – 322 BCE, Aristotle, Metaphysics 1003B.7
*** 384 BCE – 322 BCE, Aristotle, Posterior Analytics 83A.24
*** 350 BCE, Aristotle, Parts of Animals 643A.27
*** 384 BCE – 322 BCE, Aristotle, On the Soul 402A.8
** true nature of that which is a member of a kind
*** 428 BCE – 347 BCE, Plato, Phaedo 65D
*** 428 BCE – 347 BCE, Plato, Phaedo 92D
*** 384 BCE – 322 BCE, Aristotle, Posterior Analytics 90B.30
*** 380 BCE, Plato, The Republic 509B
*** 428 BCE – 347 BCE, Plato, Phaedrus 245E
*** 384 BCE – 322 BCE, Aristotle, Metaphysics 1017B.22
*** 384 BCE – 322 BCE, Aristotle, Metaphysics 1031A.1
** the possession of such a nature, substantiality
*** 380 BCE, Plato, The Republic 509B
** (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 298A.29
*** 384 BCE – 322 BCE, Aristotle, Metaphysics 1017B.10
*** 350 BCE, Aristotle, On the Heavens 298B.3
*** 360 BCE, Plato, The Sophist 246A
** (logic) substance as the leading category
*** 384 BCE – 322 BCE, Aristotle, Categories 1B.26
*** 384 BCE – 322 BCE, Aristotle, Metaphysics 1045B.29
*** 384 BCE – 322 BCE, Aristotle, Categories 2B.5
*** 384 BCE – 322 BCE, Aristotle, Categories 2A.15
*** 384 BCE – 322 BCE, Aristotle, Metaphysics 1035B.29
*** 384 BCE – 322 BCE, Aristotle, Metaphysics 1043A.30
*** 384 BCE – 322 BCE, Aristotle, On the Soul 412A.16
*** 384 BCE – 322 BCE, Aristotle, Metaphysics 1037A.5
*** 384 BCE – 322 BCE, Aristotle, On the Soul 412A.19
*** 384 BCE – 322 BCE, Aristotle, Metaphysics 1035B.15
*** 384 BCE – 322 BCE, Aristotle, Posterior Analytics 87A.36
** (various uses after Plato and Aristotle)
*** c. 334 BCE – c. 262 BCE, Zeno of Citium, Stoic 1.24
*** Polystr. 12
*** AD 254–270, Plotinus, Enneades 2.4.5
*** AD 254–270, Plotinus, Enneades 2.6.1
*** AD 254–270, Plotinus, Enneades 4.7.8
*** AD 254–270, Plotinus, Enneades 6.1.2
** Pythagorean name for I
*** Theol., Ar. 6
* name of a plaster
** Aet. 15.15.45
* a fire-resisting substance
** 498 CE – 518 CE, Zosimus, Alch. 168B
* (in magic) a material thing by which a connection is established between the person to be acted upon and the supernatural agent

#### Derived terms

* ἀπουσίᾱ (apousíā)

#### Descendants

* Greek: ουσία (ousía)
* → Arabic: أُوسِيَّة (ʔūsiyya)
* → Old Church Slavonic: естьство (estĭstvo) (calque) (see there for further descendants)

### References

* ↑ Beekes, Robert S. P. (2010) “οὐσία”, in Etymological Dictionary of Greek (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 10), with the assistance of Lucien van Beek, Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 1131

### Further reading

* “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, James (1979) Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance to the Bible
* 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.inheritance idem, page 440.possession idem, page 628.property idem, page 653.reality idem, page 676.substance idem, page 832.