Ancient Greek

Noun

στοιχεῖον • ‎(stoikheîon) n ‎(genitive στοιχείου); second declension

1. (properly) one of a row:
   1. (in the sun-dial) the shadow of the gnomon, which advances regularly hour after hour
      • 391 BCE, Aristophanes, Assemblywomen 652
      • 4th century BC, Eubulus, Incert. 1
      • 362 BCE – 262 BCE, Philemon, ap. Phot.
2. (generally) one of a series, a component part, an element:
   • 384 BCE – 322 BCE, Aristotle, Metaphysics 4.3.1
   • 350 BCE, Aristotle, On the Heavens 3.3.1
   1. a simple sound of the voice, as the first element of language; an elementary sound, as distinct from a letter (γράμμα, grámma)
      • 386 BCE – 367 BCE, Plato, Cratylus 424.d
      • 386 BCE – 367 BCE, Plato, Cratylus 426.d
      • 366 BCE – 348 BCE, Plato, Theaetetus 202.e
      • 384 BCE – 322 BCE, Aristotle, Poët. 20.2
   2. (physics, chiefly in the plural) any one of the component parts of matter, an element
      • 366 BCE – 348 BCE, Plato, Theaetetus 201.e
      • 428 BCE – 347 BCE, Plato, The Statesman 278.c
      • 360 BCE, Plato, Timaeus 48.b
      • 384 BCE – 322 BCE, Aristotle, On Generation and Corruption 1.8.3
      • 384 BCE – 322 BCE, Aristotle, Metaphysics 2.3.2
      • 3rd century AD, Diogenes Laertius, Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers 3.24
      • Bentl., Phal. 523
      • 384 BCE – 322 BCE, Aristotle, Meteorology 1.1.1
      • Thales, ap. Plut. 2.875.d
      • Anaxim., ap. Diog. L. 2.1
      • 384 BCE – 322 BCE, Aristotle, Physics 1.5.6
      • 384 BCE – 322 BCE, Aristotle, Metaphysics 12.10.5
      1. (Aristotelianism) the material cause of a thing, as opposed to the formal or motive cause (ἀρχή, arkhḗ)
         • 384 BCE – 322 BCE, Aristotle, Metaphysics 4.1.1
         • 384 BCE – 322 BCE, Aristotle, Metaphysics 4.3.1
         • 384 BCE – 322 BCE, Aristotle, Metaphysics 6.17.2
         • Orph., H. 4.4
         • Babr. 71.4
   3. (in the plural) the elements of knowledge and the sciences
      1. (geometry) points, lines, surfaces
         • 384 BCE – 322 BCE, Aristotle, Categories 12.3
         • 384 BCE – 322 BCE, Aristotle, Metaphysics 4.3
      2. (arithmetic) units
         • 384 BCE – 322 BCE, Aristotle, Metaphysics 4.3
      3. (grammar) parts of speech
         • 384 BCE – 322 BCE, Aristotle, Poët. 20.1
         • 60 BCE – 7 BCE, Dionysius of Halicarnassus, de Comp. 2
      4. (logic) the major premisses of syllogisms
         • 384 BCE – 322 BCE, Aristotle, Metaphysics 4.3.3
      5. (rhetoric) commonplaces
         • 384 BCE – 322 BCE, Aristotle, Rhetoric 1.6.1
         • 384 BCE – 322 BCE, Aristotle, Rhetoric 2.22.13
   4. (generally) a simple or elementary principle
      • Xea., Mem. 2.1.1
      • 436 BCE – 338 BCE, Isocrates, Collected Works 18.a
      • 384 BCE – 322 BCE, Aristotle, Politics 5.9.5
      • 384 BCE – 322 BCE, Aristotle, Politics 1.9.12
      • Nicol., Incert. 1.30
   5. (in later writers) a planet
      • Eccl.
      • Vales. ad Eus., H.E. 3.31
      • Manetho 4.624
      1. (chiefly) a sign of the Zodiac
         • 3rd century AD, Diogenes Laertius, Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers 6.102

Declension

Synonyms

• (physics: component part of matter, element): ἀρχή ‎(arkhḗ) (in Thales and Anaximenes, but not in Aristotle), ῥίζωμᾰ ‎(rhízōma) (Empedoclean)
• (sign of the Zodiac): στοιχειώμᾰτᾰ n pl ‎(stoikheiṓmata)

Derived terms

Descendants

• English: stoichiology
• Greek: στοιχείο ‎(stoicheío)
• Latin: stoechīon
• Russian: стихия ‎(stixija)

References

• στοιχεῖον in Liddell & Scott (1940) A Greek–English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• «στοιχεῖον» 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
• “G4747”, in Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance to the Bible, 1979
• Woodhouse, S. C. (1910) English-Greek Dictionary: A Vocabulary of the Attic Language, London: Routledge & Kegan Paul Limited.
  • sundial idem, page 838.