διαίρεσις

Ancient Greek

FWOTD – 13 December 2014

Etymology

From διαιρέω (diairéō, “take apart, cleave, divide”) +‎ -σις (-sis), from δια- (dia-, “apart”) +‎ αἱρέω (hairéō, “take, grasp”).

Pronunciation

 

• IPA^(key): /di.ǎi̯.re.sis/ → /ðiˈɛ.re.sis/ → /ðiˈe.re.sis/

• (5^th BCE Attic) IPA^(key): /di.ǎi̯.re.sis/
• (1^st CE Egyptian) IPA^(key): /diˈɛ.re.sis/
• (4^th CE Koine) IPA^(key): /ðiˈɛ.re.sis/
• (10^th CE Byzantine) IPA^(key): /ðiˈe.re.sis/
• (15^th CE Constantinopolitan) IPA^(key): /ðiˈe.re.sis/

Noun

δῐαίρεσῐς • (diaíresis) f (genitive δῐαιρέσεως); third declension

1. divisibility
   • 384 BCE – 322 BCE, Aristotle, Metaphysics 1016b.4
   • 384 BCE – 322 BCE, Aristotle, Metaphysics 6.4.1027b.19
   • 384 BCE – 322 BCE, Aristotle, Metaphysics 6.4.1027b.30
2. (medicine) dissection
   • 129 CE – 216 CE, Galen, Collected Works 4.664
   1. (medicine) venesection
      • 320 CE – 403 CE, Oribasius, Collected Works 7.9
   2. (medicine) surgical operation
      • 110 BCE – 35 BCE, Philodemus, On Frank Criticism p.56O
   3. (medicine, in the plural) wounds
      • 36 BCE – 30 BCE, Diodorus Siculus, Historical Library
3. division, distribution
   • (of money) Herodotus, Histories 7.144
   • (of spoils) Xenophon, Cyropaedia 4.5.55
   • (of votes) Aeschylus, The Eumenides 749
4. distinction
   • 360 BCE, Plato, The Sophist 267b
   • 384 BCE – 322 BCE, Aristotle, Politics 1294a.34
5. (logic) division into logical genus and species (γένος (génos) and εἶδος (eîdos))
   • 360 BCE, Plato, The Sophist 267d
   • 384 BCE – 322 BCE, Aristotle, Prior Analytics 1.31
   • 428 BCE – 347 BCE, Plato, Phaedrus 266b
6. (logic) separation of the subject and predicate
   • 384 BCE – 322 BCE, Aristotle, On Interpretation 1.16a
7. (logic) the fallacy of division
   • 384 BCE – 322 BCE, Aristotle, Sophistical Refutations 33.177a
8. (rhetoric) division or distribution of an argument into its component subjects or subtopics (known formerly as "heads")
   • Hermogenes of Tarsus, Progymnasmata 7
   • Hermogenes of Tarsus, On legal issues 1
   • 1 CE – 100 CE, Onasander, Strategikos 2
9. (grammar) the resolution of a diphthong into two syllables, diaeresis
   • 50 CE – 250 CE, Apollonius Dyscolus, On Pronouns 87.2
   • An., Bachm. 2.367.3
10. (grammar) the resolution of one word into two
    • 250 CE – 350 CE, Athenaeus, Deipnosophistae 11.492a
    • Tryphon, On Tropes 1.8
11. (poetry) division of a poetic line when the end of a word and a metrical foot coincide, diaeresis
    • 200 CE – 300 CE, Aristides Quintilianus, On Music 1.24
    • 200 CE – 300 CE, Aristides Quintilianus, On Music 47.23
12. (mathematics) transformation of a dividend yield
    • 350 BCE – 250 BCE, Euclid, Elements 5.1
    • 428 BCE – 347 BCE, Plato, Definitions 15
    • c. 225 BCE, Archimedes, On the Sphere and Cylinder 2.6
13. (military) division of troops in the Roman cohors
    • 93 CE – 94 CE, Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews 7.14.9
14. (music) division or separation between sounds, interval
    • 400 BCE – 250 BCE, Aristoxenus, Rhyth. 7.18.19

Inflection

Third declension of ἡ δῐαίρεσῐς; τῆς δῐαιρέσεως (Attic)

Case / #	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	ἡ δῐαίρεσῐς hē diaíresis	τὼ δῐαιρέσει tṑ diairései	αἱ δῐαιρέσεις hai diairéseis
Genitive	τῆς δῐαιρέσεως tês diairéseōs	τοῖν δῐαιρεσέοιν toîn diaireséoin	τῶν δῐαιρέσεων tôn diairéseōn
Dative	τῇ δῐαιρέσει têi diairései	τοῖν δῐαιρεσέοιν toîn diaireséoin	ταῖς δῐαιρέσεσῐ / δῐαιρέσεσῐν taîs diairésesi(n)
Accusative	τὴν δῐαίρεσῐν tḕn diaíresin	τὼ δῐαιρέσει tṑ diairései	τᾱ̀ς δῐαιρέσεις tā̀s diairéseis
Vocative	δῐαίρεσῐ diaíresi	δῐαιρέσει diairései	δῐαιρέσεις diairéseis
Notes:	This table gives Attic inflectional endings. For declension in other dialects, see Appendix:Ancient Greek dialectal declension.

Antonyms

• (antonym(s) of “division”): σῠναίρεσῐς (sunaíresis)
• (antonym(s) of “division into logical genus and species”): σῠνᾰγωγή (sunagōgḗ)
• (antonym(s) of “division of subject and predicate”): σῠ́νθεσῐς (súnthesis)
• (antonym(s) of “fallacy of division”): σῠ́νθεσῐς (súnthesis)
• (antonym(s) of “resolution of a diphthong into two syllables”): σῠναίρεσῐς (sunaíresis)
• (antonym(s) of “interval”): δῐᾰ́στημᾰ (diástēma)

Coordinate terms

• (προσῳδίαι ἑλληνικαί) προσῳδία; βαρεῖα ⟨ ` ⟩, βραχεῖα ⟨ ˘ ⟩, δασεῖα ⟨ ῾ ⟩, διαίρεσις ⟨ ¨ ⟩, κορωνίς ⟨ ᾽ ⟩, μακρά ⟨ ¯ ⟩, ὀξεῖα ⟨ ´ ⟩, περισπωμένη ⟨ ῀ ⟩, προσγεγραμμένη ⟨ ι ⟩, ὑπογεγραμμένη ⟨ ͺ ⟩, ψιλή ⟨ ᾿ ⟩ ^{(Category: grc:Diacritical marks)}

Descendants

• → Latin: diaeresis
  • → English: diaeresis
  • → French: diérèse
  • → Portuguese: diérese
  • → Spanish: diéresis

Further reading

• “διαίρεσις”, in Liddell & Scott (1940) A Greek–English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “διαίρεσις”, in Liddell & Scott (1889) An Intermediate Greek–English Lexicon, New York: Harper & Brothers
• διαίρεσις in Bailly, Anatole (1935) Le Grand Bailly: Dictionnaire grec-français, Paris: Hachette
• 1 διαίρεσις in the Diccionario Griego–Español en línea (2006–2024)
• G1243 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.
  • division idem, page 244.
  • partition idem, page 595.
  • separation idem, page 754.