Everyday LifeGreek → English
Athanasius
/ˌæθəˈneɪʒəs/proper noun
A Greek personal name, borne above all by the fourth-century bishop of Alexandria who fought Arianism.
The Greek roots
ἀ-
a-
not, without
θάνατος
thánatos
death
Literally: “deathless, immortal”
The story of the word
ἀθάνατος was the standard Greek word for a god, since what separated gods from people was not power but not dying. Athanasius of Alexandria was exiled five times in forty-five years for refusing to concede that the Son was a created being, which produced the Latin tag Athanasius contra mundum, Athanasius against the world. The name is one of the commonest in Greece, worn down in daily use to Θανάσης.
- How it travelled
- Ancient Greek → Latin → English
Same family
euthanasiathanatologyThanatosathanasy
In a sentence
The creed named for Athanasius was almost certainly not written by him.