essent

English

Etymology

Coined by Ralph Manheim in his 1959 English translation of Martin Heidegger’s Einführung in die Metaphysik to render German Seiendes (as distinct from Sein), on the basis of essens, a faux-Latin present participle of sum.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈɛsənt/
• Rhymes: -ɛsənt

Noun

essent (plural essents)

1. (philosophy) that which is; an entity, a being, an existent
   • 1959, Martin Heidegger, translated by Ralph Manheim, An Introduction to Metaphysics, page 1:

     Why are there essents rather than nothing? That is the question. Clearly it is no ordinary question. “Why are there essents, why is there anything at all, rather than nothing?”—obviously this is the first of all questions, though not in a chronological sense.

   • 1992, Jarava Lal Mehta, edited by William J. Jackson, J.L. Mehta on Heidegger, Hermeneutics and Indian Tradition, page 51:

     As against this, the non-conceptual creative word, instead of enabling us to grasp and lay hold of what is already there before us, instead of serving merely as a means to describing what is present, calls into being. It is evocative of Being; it invokes that presence (Anwesenheit), i.e., Being, within which (in the light of which) anything can appear before us as an essent.

   • 2007, Marko Zlomislić, Jacques Derrida’s Aporetic Ethics, page 116:

     The essent can be things at our disposal; things at hand such as tools, or vehicles. The land, the sea, the mountains, rivers, woods are also essents. Trees, birds, insects, grasses and stones are essents.

Anagrams

• Steens, Stenes, ensets, tenses, steens

Catalan

Alternative forms

• sent

Verb

essent

1. gerund of ésser
2. gerund of ser

Latin

Etymology 1

Form of the verb sum (“am”).

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /ˈes.sent/, [ˈɛs̠ːɛn̪t̪]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈes.sent/, [ˈɛsːen̪t̪]

Verb

essent

1. third-person plural imperfect active subjunctive of sum

Etymology 2

Form of the verb edō (“I eat”).

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /ˈeːs.sent/, [ˈeːs̠ːɛn̪t̪]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈes.sent/, [ˈɛsːen̪t̪]

Verb

ēssent

1. third-person plural imperfect active subjunctive of edō

Occitan

Verb

essent

1. present participle of èsser