οἰκουμένη

Ancient Greek

Alternative forms

• οἰκεομένη (oikeoménē) – uncontracted

Etymology

From οἰκέω (oikéō, “I inhabit, dwell”), and οἰκος (oikos, “house, dwelling”) This etymology is incomplete. You can help Wiktionary by elaborating on the origins of this term. The noun use is an ellipsis of οἰκουμένη γῆ (oikouménē gê, “inhabited earth”).

Participle

οἰκουμένη • (oikouménē)

1. feminine nominative/vocative singular of οἰκούμενος (oikoúmenos)

Noun

οἰκουμένη • (oikouménē) f (genitive οἰκουμένης); first declension

1. inhabited region
2. the inhabited world, particularly the region known to the ancient Greeks: (sub-polar) Europe, (western) Asia, and (northern and Saharan) Africa
3. (Byzantine) the civilized world, particularly the land of the Roman or Byzantine Empire

Inflection

First declension of ἡ οἰκουμένη; τῆς οἰκουμένης (Attic)

Case / #	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	ἡ οἰκουμένη hē oikouménē	τὼ οἰκουμένᾱ tṑ oikouménā	αἱ οἰκουμέναι hai oikouménai
Genitive	τῆς οἰκουμένης tês oikouménēs	τοῖν οἰκουμέναιν toîn oikouménain	τῶν οἰκουμενῶν tôn oikoumenôn
Dative	τῇ οἰκουμένῃ têi oikouménēi	τοῖν οἰκουμέναιν toîn oikouménain	ταῖς οἰκουμέναις taîs oikouménais
Accusative	τὴν οἰκουμένην tḕn oikouménēn	τὼ οἰκουμένᾱ tṑ oikouménā	τᾱ̀ς οἰκουμένᾱς tā̀s oikouménās
Vocative	οἰκουμένη oikouménē	οἰκουμένᾱ oikouménā	οἰκουμέναι oikouménai
Notes:	This table gives Attic inflectional endings. For declension in other dialects, see Appendix:Ancient Greek dialectal declension.

Derived terms

• ἡ οἰκουμένη ἡ μέλλουσα (hē oikouménē hē méllousa, “the world to come”)

Descendants

• → Coptic: ⲟⲓⲕⲟⲩⲙⲉⲛⲏ (oikoumenē)
• → English: ecumene
• → French: écoumène
• → Indonesian: oikumene (learned)
• → Italian: ecumene
• → Russian: ойкуме́на (ojkuména)
• → Spanish: ecúmene
• → Portuguese: ecumênico

See also

• ἄντοικοι (ántoikoi)
• ἀντίποδες (antípodes)
• περίοικοι (períoikoi)

References

• “οἰκουμένη”, in Liddell & Scott (1940) A Greek–English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “οἰκουμένη”, in Liddell & Scott (1889) An Intermediate Greek–English Lexicon, New York: Harper & Brothers
• οἰκουμένη 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
• G3625 in Strong, James (1979) Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance to the Bible