1. οὐσία · ousia — Beekes
The corpus record
οὐσί-α
ousia
property, homestead; being, presence, existence, reality, substance
Generated live from the audited corpus — every figure on this page is a database query, not prose from memory.
Where it lives
- Categories 83 · 82.62/10k
- Metaphysics 598 · 76.16/10k
- Parmenides 59 · 38.93/10k
- Enneads 701 · 33.06/10k
- Sophist 25 · 15.61/10k
- De longitudine et brevitate vitae 2 · 11.36/10k
- De juventute et senectute, De vita et morte 2 · 10.88/10k
- Cratylus 19 · 10.63/10k
- Politics 65 · 9.95/10k
- Theaetetus 22 · 9.79/10k
- Meditations 27 · 9.29/10k
- Analytica priora et posteriora 45 · 8.1/10k
Densest 12 of 56 attested works shown, by occurrences per 10,000 attested tokens.
What it meant
2. οὐσία · ousia — Chantraine
3. οὐσία · ousia — Frisk
4. οὐσί-α · ousi-a — LSJ
that which is oneʼs own, oneʼs substance, property, Hdt. ll.cc., S. Tr. 911 (s. v. l.), E. HF 337, Hel. 1253 (pl., Fr. 354 (s. v. l.)), Ar. Ec. 729, Lys. 18.17, Pl. R. 551b, SIG l.c., etc.; opp. τὰ σώματα (civil status), And. 1.74; καλῶς . . ἐπεμελήθη τῶν οὐσιῶν ὑπὲρ τοῦ δημάρχου BSA 24.154 (Attica, iv B.C.); εἰ ἐκεκτήμην οὐ. if I had been a man of substance, Lys. 24.11; ὑπὲρ τὴν οὐ. δαπανᾶν Diph. 32.7; πατρῴαν οὐ. κατεσθίειν Anaxipp. 1.32, cf. Critias 45 D.; φανερὰ οὐσία real property, immovabl
in Philos., like Ion. φύσις (with which it is interchanged in various uses, e. g. Philol. 11, Pl. R. 359a, 359b, Arist. PA 646a25, Thphr. HP 6.1.1), stable being, immutable reality, opp. γένεσις, ὅτιπερ πρὸς γένεσιν οὐσία, τοῦτο πρὸς πίστιν ἀλήθεια Pl. Ti. 29c, cf. Sph. 232c; ὧν κίνησις γένεσιν παραλαβοῦσα ἀέναον οὐ. ἐπόρισεν Id. Lg. 966e; γένεσις μὲν τὸ σπέρμα, οὐ. δὲ τὸ τέλος Arist. PA 641b32, cf. 640a18, etc.; ὁδὸς εἰς οὐσίαν Id. Metaph. 1003b7: hence, being in the abstract, opp. non-being (τ
substance, essence, opp. πάθη (ʼmodesʼ), Id. Euthphr. 11a; πάθη οὐσίας Arist. Metaph. 1003b7; opp. συμβεβηκότα (ʼaccidentsʼ), Id. APo. 83a24, PA 643a27; ἡ φύσις [τῆς ψυχῆς] καὶ ἡ οὐ., εἶθʼ ὅσα συμβέβηκε περὶ αὐτήν Id. de An. 402a8.
true nature of that which is a member of a kind, defined as ὃ τυγχάνει ἕκαστον ὄν Pl. Phd. 65d; as τὸ ὅ ἐστι ib. 92d; as τὸ τί ἐστι Arist. APo. 90b30; τὸ εἶναί τε καὶ τὴν οὐ. Pl. R. 509b; expressed in a formula or definition, ψυχῆς οὐ. τε καὶ λόγον Id. Phdr. 245e; τὸ τί ἦν εἶναι οὗ ὁ λόγος ὁρισμός, καὶ τοῦτο οὐ. λέγεται Arist. Metaph. 1017b22; μόνης τῆς οὐ. ἐστὶν ὁ ὁρισμός ib. 1031a1.
the possession of such a nature, substantiality, ἔτι ἐπέκεινα τῆς οὐ. πρεσβείᾳ . . ὑπερέχοντος Pl. R. 509b.
in the concrete, the primary real, the substratum underlying all change and process in nature, applied by Arist. to the atoms of Democritus, Fr. 208; to τὰ ἁπλᾶ σώματα Id. Cael. 298a29, cf. Metaph. 1017b10; πᾶσαι αἱ φυσικαὶ οὐ. ἢ σώματα ἢ μετὰ σωμάτων γίγνονται Id. Cael. 298b3, al.; ταὐτὸν σῶμα καὶ οὐσίαν ὁριζόμενοι Pl. Sph. 246a; but also, νοητὰ ἄττα καὶ ἀσώματα εἴδη . . τὴν ἀληθινὴν οὐ. ib. b.
in Logic, substance as the leading category, Arist. Cat. 1b26, Metaph. 1045b29; αἱ πρῶται οὐ. (individuals), αἱ δεύτεραι οὐ. (species and genera), Id. Cat. 2b5, 2a15 (but ὁ ἄνθρωπος καὶ ὁ ἵππος . . οὐκ ἔστιν οὐ. ἀλλὰ σύνολόν τι Id. Metaph. 1035b29, cf. σύνθετος or συνθέτη οὐ. ib. 1043a30, de An. 412a16); ἡ μὲν ψυχὴ οὐ. ἡ πρώτη, τὸ δὲ σῶμα ὕλη Id. Metaph. 1037a5; ἡ ψυχὴ οὐ. ὡς εἶδος Id. de An. 412a19; ἡ οὐ. ἐντελέχεια ib. 21; [ψυχὴ] οὐ. τοῦ ἐμψύχου Id. Metaph. 1035b15; of the abstract objects of
after Pl. and Arist. in various uses, as ἡ ἄποιος οὐ., = ἡ ὕλη, Zeno Stoic. 1.24; κατὰ οὐσίαν, opp. κατὰ δύναμιν ἢ ἐνέργειαν, Polystr. p.12 W.; πᾶς νοῦς ἀμέριστός ἐστιν οὐ. Procl. Inst. 171, cf. Plot. 2.4.5, 2.6.1, 4.7.8, 6.1.2, al.
Pythag. name for I, Theol.Ar. 6.
name of a plaster, Aët. 15.15,45.
αἱ οὐ. fire-resisting substances, Zos.Alch. p. 168B.; of the four σώματα (copper, tin, lead, iron), Ps.-Democr. ap. eund. p.167 B.
in Magic, a material thing by which a connexion is established between the person to be acted upon and the supernatural agent, e.g. a hair, λαβὼν βελόνην διείρων τὴν οὐ. εἰς αὐτήν PMag.Par. 1.2949, cf. PMag.Osl. 1.73; mould from a tomb, PMag.Par. 1.435; κυνοκεφάλου οὐ., . . κυνὸς οὐ., = κόπρος (cf. 2460), ib. 2687, etc.
In the wild
- οὐσίαν · ousian Aristotle, Analytica priora et posteriora AHys.Β (DIORISIS sentence 2152)
- οὐσίαι · ousiai Aristotle, Analytica priora et posteriora AHys.Α (DIORISIS sentence 1866)
- οὐσία · ousia Aristotle, Analytica priora et posteriora AHys.Α (DIORISIS sentence 1975)
- οὐσίας · ousias Aristotle, Analytica priora et posteriora AHys.Β (DIORISIS sentence 2140)
- οὐσίαν · ousian Aristotle, Analytica priora et posteriora AHys.Β (DIORISIS sentence 2067)
- οὐσίαι · ousiai Aristotle, Analytica priora et posteriora AHys.Β (DIORISIS sentence 2094)
6 of 1,922 attestations shown. Ask for more.
Where it came from
- Treated in Beekes, Etymological Dictionary of Greek (Brill 2010) s.v. οὐσία (scan p. 1182; entry #4738).
- Treated in Chantraine, Dictionnaire etymologique de la langue grecque s.v. οὐσία (scan p. 857; entry #6162).
- Treated in Frisk, Griechisches etymologisches Worterbuch s.v. οὐσία (scan p. 1421; entry #4422).