αἰών

See also: Αἰών

Ancient Greek

Etymology

From earlier αἰϝών (aiwṓn), from Proto-Indo-European *h₂eyu- (“vital force, life, long life, eternity”), whence also ἀεί (aeí, “always”). Cognate with Latin aevum, English aye.

Pronunciation

(5^th BCE Attic) IPA^(key): /ai̯.ɔ̌ːn/
(1^st CE Egyptian) IPA^(key): /ɛˈon/
(4^th CE Koine) IPA^(key): /ɛˈon/
(10^th CE Byzantine) IPA^(key): /eˈon/
(15^th CE Constantinopolitan) IPA^(key): /eˈon/

Noun

αἰών • (aiṓn) m (genitive αἰῶνος); third declension

lifetime
generation
a long period of time, eon, epoch, age
the current world
eternity

Inflection

Third declension of ὁ αἰών; τοῦ αἰῶνος (Attic)

Case / #	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	ὁ αἰών ho aiṓn	τὼ αἰῶνε tṑ aiône	οἱ αἰῶνες hoi aiônes
Genitive	τοῦ αἰῶνος toû aiônos	τοῖν αἰώνοιν toîn aiṓnoin	τῶν αἰώνων tôn aiṓnōn
Dative	τῷ αἰῶνῐ tôi aiôni	τοῖν αἰώνοιν toîn aiṓnoin	τοῖς αἰῶσῐ / αἰῶσῐν toîs aiôsi(n)
Accusative	τὸν αἰῶνᾰ tòn aiôna	τὼ αἰῶνε tṑ aiône	τοὺς αἰῶνᾰς toùs aiônas
Vocative	αἰών aiṓn	αἰῶνε aiône	αἰῶνες aiônes
Notes:	This table gives Attic inflectional endings. For declension in other dialects, see Appendix:Ancient Greek dialectal declension.

Synonyms

καιρός (kairós)
χρόνος (khrónos)

Derived terms

αἰώνιος (aiṓnios)

Descendants

English: aeon, eon
Greek: αιώνας (aiónas)
Latin: aeon
Russian: эо́н (eón)

References

“αἰών”, in Liddell & Scott (1940) A Greek–English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
“αἰών”, in Liddell & Scott (1889) An Intermediate Greek–English Lexicon, New York: Harper & Brothers
“αἰών”, in Autenrieth, Georg (1891) A Homeric Dictionary for Schools and Colleges, New York: Harper and Brothers
αἰών in Bailly, Anatole (1935) Le Grand Bailly: Dictionnaire grec-français, Paris: Hachette
αἰών in Cunliffe, Richard J. (1924) A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect: Expanded Edition, Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, published 1963
αἰών in the Diccionario Griego–Español en línea (2006–2023)
“αἰών”, in Slater, William J. (1969) Lexicon to Pindar, Berlin: Walter de Gruyter
G165 in Strong, James (1979) Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance to the Bible
αἰών 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.
- age idem, page 18.
- century idem, page 122.
- life idem, page 489.
- lifetime idem, page 490.
- term idem, page 862.
- time idem, page 875.