ἐπιφάνεια

See also: επιφάνεια

Ancient Greek

Etymology

From ἐπῐφᾰνής (epĭphănḗs, “in view”) +‎ -ῐᾰ (-ĭă), from ἐπιφαίνω (epiphaínō, “I come into view”), from ἐπί (epí, “upon”) + φαίνω (phaínō, “I shine, bring to light”).

Pronunciation

 

• IPA^(key): /e.pi.pʰá.neː.a/ → /e.piˈɸa.ni.a/ → /e.piˈfa.ni.a/

• (5^th BCE Attic) IPA^(key): /e.pi.pʰá.neː.a/
• (1^st CE Egyptian) IPA^(key): /e.piˈpʰa.ni.a/
• (4^th CE Koine) IPA^(key): /e.piˈɸa.ni.a/
• (10^th CE Byzantine) IPA^(key): /e.piˈfa.ni.a/
• (15^th CE Constantinopolitan) IPA^(key): /e.piˈfa.ni.a/

Noun

ἐπῐφᾰ́νειᾰ • (epĭphắneiă) f (genitive ἐπῐφᾰνείᾱς); first declension

1. appearance, manifestation (especially of a divine or royal figure)
2. surface, visible portion
   1. (geometry) surface
      • 350 BCE – 250 BCE, Euclid, Elements 1:

        ἐπιφάνεια δέ ἐστιν, ὃ μῆκος καὶ πλάτος μόνον ἔχει. ἐπιφανείας δὲ πέρατα γραμμαί.

        epipháneia dé estin, hò mêkos kaì plátos mónon ékhei. epiphaneías dè pérata grammaí.

        And a surface is that which has only length and width. And the extremities of a surface are lines.

3. appearance, pretense
4. fame, distinction
5. (in New Testament of the Bible) advent or manifestation (of Christ)
6. epiphany

Inflection

Case / #	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	ἡ ἐπῐφᾰ́νειᾰ hē epĭphắneiă	τὼ ἐπῐφᾰνείᾱ tṑ epĭphăneíā	αἱ ἐπῐφᾰ́νειαι hai epĭphắneiai
Genitive	τῆς ἐπῐφᾰνείᾱς tês epĭphăneíās	τοῖν ἐπῐφᾰνείαιν toîn epĭphăneíain	τῶν ἐπῐφᾰνειῶν tôn epĭphăneiôn
Dative	τῇ ἐπῐφᾰνείᾳ têi epĭphăneíāi	τοῖν ἐπῐφᾰνείαιν toîn epĭphăneíain	ταῖς ἐπῐφᾰνείαις taîs epĭphăneíais
Accusative	τὴν ἐπῐφᾰ́νειᾰν tḕn epĭphắneiăn	τὼ ἐπῐφᾰνείᾱ tṑ epĭphăneíā	τᾱ̀ς ἐπῐφᾰνείᾱς tā̀s epĭphăneíās
Vocative	ἐπῐφᾰ́νειᾰ epĭphắneiă	ἐπῐφᾰνείᾱ epĭphăneíā	ἐπῐφᾰ́νειαι epĭphắneiai
Notes:	This table gives Attic inflectional endings. For declension in other dialects, see Appendix:Ancient Greek dialectal declension.

First declension of ἡ ἐπῐφᾰ́νειᾰ; τῆς ἐπῐφᾰνείᾱς (Attic)

Descendants

• → Greek: επιφάνεια (epifáneia) (learned)
• → Latin: epiphanīa
  • Italian: Befana
  • → Italian: epifania
  • → Middle English: epiphanie
    • English: epiphany
  • → Occitan: epifania
  • → Old French: epyphanie
  • → Spanish: epifanía
• → Romanian: epifanie

References

• “ἐπιφάνεια”, in Liddell & Scott (1940) A Greek–English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “ἐπιφάνεια”, in Liddell & Scott (1889) An Intermediate Greek–English Lexicon, New York: Harper & Brothers
• ἐπιφάνεια 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
• G2015 in Strong, James (1979) Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance to the Bible