ἐπιφάνεια

See also: επιφάνεια

Ancient Greek

Etymology

From ἐπῐφᾰνής (epiphanḗs, “in view”) +‎ -ῐᾰ (-ia), 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 • (epipháneia) 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 epipháneia	τὼ ἐπῐφᾰνείᾱ tṑ epiphaneíā	αἱ ἐπῐφᾰ́νειαι hai epipháneiai
Genitive	τῆς ἐπῐφᾰνείᾱς tês epiphaneíās	τοῖν ἐπῐφᾰνείαιν toîn epiphaneíain	τῶν ἐπῐφᾰνειῶν tôn epiphaneiôn
Dative	τῇ ἐπῐφᾰνείᾳ têi epiphaneíāi	τοῖν ἐπῐφᾰνείαιν toîn epiphaneíain	ταῖς ἐπῐφᾰνείαις taîs epiphaneíais
Accusative	τὴν ἐπῐφᾰ́νειᾰν tḕn epipháneian	τὼ ἐπῐφᾰνείᾱ tṑ epiphaneíā	τᾱ̀ς ἐπῐφᾰνείᾱς tā̀s epiphaneíās
Vocative	ἐπῐφᾰ́νειᾰ epipháneia	ἐπῐφᾰνείᾱ epiphaneíā	ἐπῐφᾰ́νειαι epipháneiai
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