φύσις

Ancient Greek

Etymology

From φῠ́ω (phúō, “grow”) +‎ -σῐς (-sis). Compare Proto-Slavic *bytь (“essence; culture”) and Sanskrit भूति (bhūti, “existence, being; form; might, power, prosperity; fortune”).

Pronunciation

 

• IPA^(key): /pʰý.sis/ → /ˈɸy.sis/ → /ˈfi.sis/

• (5^th BCE Attic) IPA^(key): /pʰý.sis/
• (1^st CE Egyptian) IPA^(key): /ˈpʰy.sis/
• (4^th CE Koine) IPA^(key): /ˈɸy.sis/
• (10^th CE Byzantine) IPA^(key): /ˈfy.sis/
• (15^th CE Constantinopolitan) IPA^(key): /ˈfi.sis/

• Audio (Classical Attic):

  (file)

Noun

φῠ́σῐς • (phúsis) f (genitive φῠ́σεως); third declension

1. origin, birth
2. nature, quality, property
3. later, the nature of one's personality: temper, disposition
4. form, shape
5. that which is natural: nature
6. type, kind
7. Nature, as an entity, especially of productive power
8. creature

Declension

Third declension of ἡ φῠ́σῐς; τῆς φῠ́σεως (Attic)

Case / #	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	ἡ φῠ́σῐς hē phúsis	τὼ φῠ́σει tṑ phúsei	αἱ φῠ́σεις hai phúseis
Genitive	τῆς φῠ́σεως tês phúseōs	τοῖν φῠσέοιν toîn phuséoin	τῶν φῠ́σεων tôn phúseōn
Dative	τῇ φῠ́σει têi phúsei	τοῖν φῠσέοιν toîn phuséoin	ταῖς φῠ́σεσῐ / φῠ́σεσῐν taîs phúsesi(n)
Accusative	τὴν φῠ́σῐν tḕn phúsin	τὼ φῠ́σει tṑ phúsei	τᾱ̀ς φῠ́σεις tā̀s phúseis
Vocative	φῠ́σῐ phúsi	φῠ́σει phúsei	φῠ́σεις phúseis
Notes:	This table gives Attic inflectional endings. For declension in other dialects, see Appendix:Ancient Greek dialectal declension.

Derived terms

• φυσικός (phusikós)

 

With prefixes

• ἀνάφυσις (anáphusis)
• ἀπόφυσις (apóphusis)
• αὐτόφυσις (autóphusis)
• διάφυσις (diáphusis)
• ἔκφυσις (ékphusis)
• ἔμφυσις (émphusis)
• ἐπίφυσις (epíphusis)
• κατάφυσις (katáphusis)
• παράφυσις (paráphusis)
• παρέμφυσις (parémphusis)
• περίφυσις (períphusis)
• πρόσφυσις (prósphusis)
• πρόφυσις (próphusis)
• σύμφυσις (súmphusis)
• ὑπόφυσις (hupóphusis)

Descendants

• Greek: φύση (fýsi)
• →? Albanian: fis
• → Coptic: ⲫⲩⲥⲓⲥ (phusis)
• → English: physis
• → Portuguese: physis
• → Italian: fisica

Further reading

• “φύσις”, in Liddell & Scott (1940) A Greek–English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “φύσις”, in Liddell & Scott (1889) An Intermediate Greek–English Lexicon, New York: Harper & Brothers
• “φύσις”, in Autenrieth, Georg (1891) A Homeric Dictionary for Schools and Colleges, New York: Harper and Brothers
• φύσις in Bailly, Anatole (1935) Le Grand Bailly: Dictionnaire grec-français, Paris: Hachette
• Bauer, Walter et al. (2001) A Greek–English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature, Third edition, Chicago: University of Chicago Press
• φύσις in Cunliffe, Richard J. (1924) A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect: Expanded Edition, Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, published 1963
• “φύσις”, in Slater, William J. (1969) Lexicon to Pindar, Berlin: Walter de Gruyter
• G5449 in Strong, James (1979) Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance to the Bible
• Woodhouse, S. C. (1910) English–Greek Dictionary: A Vocabulary of the Attic Language‎^[1], London: Routledge & Kegan Paul Limited.
  • appearance idem, page 35.
  • character idem, page 125.
  • constitution idem, page 164.
  • disposition idem, page 237.
  • form idem, page 338.
  • formation idem, page 339.
  • genius idem, page 357.
  • inclination idem, page 428.
  • instinct idem, page 446.
  • intuition idem, page 456.
  • kind idem, page 469.
  • nature idem, page 552.
  • shape idem, page 762.
  • sort idem, page 795.
  • temper idem, page 859.
  • temperament idem, page 860.