είναι

See also: εἶναι

GreekEdit

From Ancient Greek εἶναι (eînai), present infinitive of εἰμί (“I am”).

(For the noun): Semantic loan from German Sein.^[1]
(For the 3rd person of verb) According to Babiniotis^[2], not from the infinitive εἶναι, but from the Medieval Byzantine Greek ἔναι < Ancient Greek ἔνι, a short form of ἔνεστι (“to be in”), and in unison with the forms είμαι, είσαι.

είναι • (eínai)

3rd person singular present form of είμαι (eímai): "he is, she is, it is"
το όνομά μου είναι … ― to ónomá mou eínai … ― my name is …
3rd person plural present form of είμαι (eímai): "they are"

είναι • (eínai) n (indeclinable)

(philosophy) being, that which exists
«To Είναι και το Μηδέν» ― «To Eínai kai to Midén» ― "Being and Nothingness (Zero)"
Title of the French book «L'Être et le Néant» by Jean-Paul Sartre.
one's inner world
Όταν έμαθα την είδηση του θανάτου του, κατέρρευσε όλο μου το είναι.
Ótan ématha tin eídisi tou thanátou tou, katérrefse ólo mou to eínai.
When I learnt the news of his death, my whole being collapsed.
(figurative) everything dear in life
Είσαι το είναι μου, ο έρωτας της ζωής μου.
Eísai to eínai mou, o érotas tis zoḯs mou.
You are my everything, my life's love.

^ είναι in Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής [Dictionary of Standard Modern Greek], 1998, by the "Triantafyllidis" Foundation.
^ Babiniotis, Georgios (2002) Λεξικό της νέας ελληνικής γλώσσας [Modern Greek Dictionary] (in Greek), 2nd edition, Athens: Lexicology Centre