αἰτία

See also: αίτια and αιτία

Ancient Greek

Etymology

Either a derivative of αἴτῐος (aítĭos, “causing; guilty”) or directly from unattested *αἶτος (*aîtos, “share”). In either case, from *h₂ey- (“to give”), whence also αἰτέω (aitéō, “to ask”).^[1]

Pronunciation

(5^th BCE Attic) IPA^(key): /ai̯.tí.aː/
(1^st CE Egyptian) IPA^(key): /ɛˈti.a/
(4^th CE Koine) IPA^(key): /ɛˈti.a/
(10^th CE Byzantine) IPA^(key): /eˈti.a/
(15^th CE Constantinopolitan) IPA^(key): /eˈti.a/

Noun

αἰτῐ́ᾱ • (aitĭ́ā) f (genitive αἰτῐ́ᾱς); first declension

charge, accusation, imputation, blame, guilt, fault
- 522 BCE – 443 BCE, Pindar, Olympian Ode 1.35
- 458 BCE, Aeschylus, The Eumenides 579
- 442 BCE, Sophocles, Antigone 1312
- 460 BCE – 420 BCE, Herodotus, Histories 5.70
- 422 BCE, Aristophanes, The Wasps 506
- 400 BCE – 387 BCE, Plato, Apology 38C
- 428 BCE – 347 BCE, Plato, Phaedrus 249D
- 458 BCE, Aeschylus, The Eumenides 99
- 380 BCE, Plato, The Republic 565B
- 460 BCE – 420 BCE, Herodotus, Histories 5.70–71
- 409 BCE, Sophocles, Philoctetes 1404
- 460 BCE – 370 BCE, Hippocrates of Kos, On Joints 67
- 430 BCE – 354 BCE, Xenophon, Memorabilia 2.8.6
- 400 BCE – 387 BCE, Plato, Apology 33B
- 430 BCE – 354 BCE, Xenophon, Cyropaedia 6.3.16
- 389 BCE – 314 BCE, Aeschines, Collected Works 3.139
- 460 BCE – 395 BCE, Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War 2.60
- 400 BCE – 387 BCE, Plato, Crito 52A
- 445 BCE – 380 BCE, Lysias, On the Olive Stump 1
- 366 BCE – 348 BCE, Plato, Theaetetus 150A
- 384 BCE – 322 BCE, Demosthenes, Letters 2.2
- 525 BCE – 455 BCE, Aeschylus, Prometheus Bound 332
- 460 BCE – 420 BCE, Herodotus, Histories 5.106
- 460 BCE – 395 BCE, Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War 2.60
- 429 BCE, Sophocles, Oedipus the King 656
- 460 BCE – 420 BCE, Herodotus, Histories 1.26
- 497 BCE – 405 BCE, Sophocles, Ajax 28
- 330 BCE, Demosthenes, On the Crown 283
- 480 BCE – 411 BCE, Antiphon of Rhamnus, Second Tetralogy 2.4
- 460 BCE – 370 BCE, Hippocrates of Kos, On Ancient Medicine 21
- 421 BCE, Aristophanes, Peace 640
- 460 BCE – 420 BCE, Herodotus, Histories 9.88
1. (in a good sense) credit
  - 467 BCE, Aeschylus, Seven Against Thebes 4
  - 380 BCE, Plato, Gorgias 503B
  - 428 BCE – 347 BCE, Plato, First Alcibiades 119A
  - 384 BCE – 322 BCE, Aristotle, Metaphysics 984B.19
  - 366 BCE – 348 BCE, Plato, Theaetetus 169A
  - 380 BCE, Plato, The Republic 435E
  - 440 BCE – 390 BCE, Andocides, On his Return 12
  - 428 BCE – 347 BCE, Plato, Laws 624A
2. expostulation, admonition
  - 460 BCE – 395 BCE, Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War 1.69
(philosophy) cause
- 384 BCE – 322 BCE, Aristotle, Physics 194B.16
- 384 BCE – 322 BCE, Aristotle, Metaphysics 983A.26
- 428 BCE – 347 BCE, Plato, Phaedo 97A
- 380 BCE, Plato, The Republic 464B
- 460 BCE – 395 BCE, Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War 4.87
- 60 BCE – 7 BCE, Dionysius of Halicarnassus, Roman Antiquities 8.29
occasion, opportunity, motive
- 522 BCE – 443 BCE, Pindar, Nemean Ode 7.11
- 125 CE – 200 CE, Lucian, The Tyrannicide 13
category
- 384 BCE – 322 BCE, Demosthenes, Against Aristocrates 75

Inflection

First declension of ἡ αἰτῐ́ᾱ; τῆς αἰτῐ́ᾱς (Attic)

Case / #	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	ἡ αἰτῐ́ᾱ hē aitĭ́ā	τὼ αἰτῐ́ᾱ tṑ aitĭ́ā	αἱ αἰτῐ́αι hai aitĭ́ai
Genitive	τῆς αἰτῐ́ᾱς tês aitĭ́ās	τοῖν αἰτῐ́αιν toîn aitĭ́ain	τῶν αἰτῐῶν tôn aitĭôn
Dative	τῇ αἰτῐ́ᾳ tēî aitĭ́āi	τοῖν αἰτῐ́αιν toîn aitĭ́ain	ταῖς αἰτῐ́αις taîs aitĭ́ais
Accusative	τὴν αἰτῐ́ᾱν tḕn aitĭ́ān	τὼ αἰτῐ́ᾱ tṑ aitĭ́ā	τᾱ̀ς αἰτῐ́ᾱς tā̀s aitĭ́ās
Vocative	αἰτῐ́ᾱ aitĭ́ā	αἰτῐ́ᾱ aitĭ́ā	αἰτῐ́αι aitĭ́ai
Notes:	This table gives Attic inflectional endings. For declension in other dialects, see Appendix:Ancient Greek dialectal declension.

Derived terms

αἰτιατός (aitiatós)
αἰτιατικός (aitiatikós)
αἰτιολογίᾱ (aitiologíā)

Descendants

Greek: αιτία (aitía)
English: aetiology, etiology

References

^ Beekes, Robert S. P. (2010) “αἴτιος (> DER > Thence > αἰτία)”, in Etymological Dictionary of Greek (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 10), with the assistance of Lucien van Beek, Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 45

“αἰτία”, in Liddell & Scott (1940) A Greek–English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
“αἰτία”, in Liddell & Scott (1889) An Intermediate Greek–English Lexicon, New York: Harper & Brothers
αἰτία in Bailly, Anatole (1935) Le Grand Bailly: Dictionnaire grec-français, Paris: Hachette
αἰτία in the Diccionario Griego–Español en línea (2006–2025)
“αἰτία”, in Slater, William J. (1969) Lexicon to Pindar, Berlin: Walter de Gruyter
G156 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.
- accusation idem, page 8.
- allegation idem, page 25.
- blame idem, page 81.
- cause idem, page 118.
- censure idem, page 122.
- complaint idem, page 151.
- crime idem, page 184.
- criminality idem, page 184.
- culpability idem, page 188.
- denunciation idem, page 211.
- foundation idem, page 341.
- ground idem, page 375.
- guilt idem, page 378.
- implication idem, page 422.
- matter idem, page 518.
- objurgation idem, page 565.
- obloquy idem, page 566.
- origin idem, page 579.
- principle idem, page 641.
- reason idem, page 676.
- reprehension idem, page 697.
- reproach idem, page 698.
- reproof idem, page 699.
- responsibility idem, page 704.
- starting point idem, page 812.
αἰτία, in ΛΟΓΕΙΟΝ [Logeion] Dictionaries for Ancient Greek and Latin (in English, French, Spanish, German, Dutch and Chinese), University of Chicago, since 2011

[1] Beekes, Robert S. P. (2010) “αἴτιος (> DER > Thence > αἰτία)”, in Etymological Dictionary of Greek (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 10), with the assistance of Lucien van Beek, Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 45

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