οὐσί-α,
Ionic dialect -ιη[
Refs 5th c.BC+];
Doric dialect ἐσσία,
ὠσία (which see): ἡ: (ὀντ,
participle of εἰμί
sum):—
that which is one's own, one's substance, property, [
Refs 5th c.BC+][same place], etc; opposed to τὰ σώματα (civil status), [
Refs 5th c.BC+]; εἰ ἐκεκτήμην οὐ. if I had been a man of
substance, [
Refs 5th c.BC+]; φανερὰ οὐσία real
property, immovables, [
Refs 5th c.BC+]; opposed to ἀφανής, [
Refs 5th c.BC+]; frequently of
estates in Egypt, [
Refs 2nd c.BC+]
II) in Philos, like
Ionic dialect φύσις (with which it is interchanged in various uses, e. g. [
Refs 5th c.BC+],
stable being, immutable reality, opposed to γένεσις, ὅτιπερ πρὸς γένεσιν οὐσία, τοῦτο πρὸς πίστιν ἀλήθεια [
Refs 5th c.BC+]; ὁδὸς εἰς οὐσίαν [
Refs]: hence,
being in the abstract, opposed to non-being (τὸ μὴ εἶναι), [
Refs 5th c.BC+]
II.2)
substance, essence, opposed to πάθη ('modes'), [
Refs 4th c.BC+]; opposed to συμβεβηκότα ('accidents'), [
Refs]
II.3)
true nature of that which is a member of a kind, defined as ὃ τυγχάνει ἕκαστον ὄν [
Refs 5th c.BC+]; as τὸ ὅ ἐστι[
Refs 4th c.BC+]; τὸ εἶναί τε καὶ τὴν οὐ. [
Refs 5th c.BC+]; expressed in a formula or definition, ψυχῆς οὐ. τε καὶ λόγον [
Refs 4th c.BC+]
II.4) the possession of such a nature,
substantiality, ἔτι ἐπέκεινα τῆς οὐ. πρεσβείᾳ. ὑπερέχοντος [
Refs 5th c.BC+]
II.5) in the concrete,
the primary real, the
substratum underlying all change and process in nature, applied by [
Refs 4th c.BC+] to the atoms of Democritus, [
Refs 5th c.BC+]
II.6) in Logic,
substance as the leading category, [
Refs 4th c.BC+]; αἱ πρῶται οὐ. (individuals), αἱ δεύτεραι οὐ. (species and genera), [
Refs]; ἡ οὐ. ἐντελέχεια[
Refs]; of the abstract objects of mathematics, μονὰς οὐ. ἄθετος, στιγμὴ δὲ οὐ. θετός [
Refs]
II.7) after [
Refs 5th c.BC+]; κατὰ οὐσίαν, opposed to κατὰ δύναμιν ἢ ἐνέργειαν, Polystr.p.12 W; πᾶς νοῦς ἀμέριστός ἐστιν οὐ. [
Refs 3rd c.AD+]
II.8) [
Refs 4th c.BC+]
III) name of a plaster, [
Refs 6th c.AD+]
IV) αἱ οὐ.
fireresisting substances, Zos.Alch.p.168 [
Refs 5th c.BC+]; of the four σώματα (copper, tin, lead, iron), [
Refs 5th c.BC+]
V) in Magic,
a material thing by which a connexion is established between the person to be acted upon and the supernatural agent, e.g. a hair, λαβὼν βελόνην διείρων τὴν οὐ. εἰς αὐτήν [
Refs]