ἄτομος

Ancient Greek

Etymology

From ἀ- (a-, “not”) +‎ τομ-, o-grade of the root of τέμνω (témnō, “to cut”) +‎ -ός (-ós).

Adjective

ἄτομος • (átomos) m or f (neuter ἄτομον); second declension

1. uncut, unmown
   • c. 450 BCE, Sophocles, Women of Trachis 200
   • 40 CE – 90 CE, Dioscorides, Materia medica 1.68
2. indivisible (not capable of being cut nor divided into smaller pieces)
   1. (grammar) noncompound (of words)
      • 60 BCE – 7 BCE, Dionysius of Halicarnassus, On the Character of Thucydides 22
   2. (physics, nominalized, feminine or neuter) an atom
      • 460 BCE – 370 BCE, Democritus, Fragments
      • 350 BCE, Aristotle, On the Heavens 3.6.305a
      • 341 BCE – 270 BCE, Epicurus, Letters 2.41.1
      • 341 BCE – 270 BCE, Epicurus, Letters 3.86.4
      • 110 BCE – 35 BCE, Philodemus, On Phenomena and Inferences 5
      • 64 BCE – 24 CE, Strabo, Geography 16.2.24
      • 3rd century AD, Diogenes Laertius, Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers 9.30 (etc.)
      • 3rd century AD, Diogenes Laertius, Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers 10.43 (etc.)
      • 313 CE, Eusebius, Preparations for the Gospel 14.23.3
      • c. 450 CE – 470 CE, Nonnus, Dionysiaca 41.54
3. undivided, individual
   • 360 BCE, Plato, The Sophist 229d
   • 384 BCE – 322 BCE, Aristotle, Metaphysics 1034a

Declension

Second declension of ἄτομος; ἄτομον (Attic)

	singular				dual				plural
	masculine	feminine	neuter		masculine	feminine	neuter		masculine	feminine	neuter
nominative	ἄτομοςátomos		ἄτομονátomon		ἀτόμωatómō		ἀτόμωatómō		ἄτομοιátomoi		ἄτομᾰátomă
genitive	ἀτόμουatómou		ἀτόμουatómou		ἀτόμοινatómoin		ἀτόμοινatómoin		ἀτόμωνatómōn		ἀτόμωνatómōn
dative	ἀτόμῳatómōi		ἀτόμῳatómōi		ἀτόμοινatómoin		ἀτόμοινatómoin		ἀτόμοιςatómois		ἀτόμοιςatómois
accusative	ἄτομονátomon		ἄτομονátomon		ἀτόμωatómō		ἀτόμωatómō		ἀτόμουςatómous		ἄτομᾰátomă
vocative	ἄτομεátome		ἄτομονátomon		ἀτόμωatómō		ἀτόμωatómō		ἄτομοιátomoi		ἄτομᾰátomă
derived forms	adverb				comparative				superlative
	ἀτόμωςatómōs				—				ἀτομώτᾰτοςatomṓtătos

• This table gives Attic inflectional endings. For declension in other dialects, see Appendix:Ancient Greek dialectal declension.

Derived terms

• ἄτομον (átomon)

Descendants

• Greek: άτομο (átomo) (from neuter ἄτομον (átomon))
• → Latin: atomus (see there for further descendants)

Further reading

• “ἄτομος”, in Liddell & Scott (1940), A Greek–English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “ἄτομος”, in Liddell & Scott (1889), An Intermediate Greek–English Lexicon, New York: Harper & Brothers
• “ἄτομος” in Bailly, Anatole (1935), Le Grand Bailly: Dictionnaire grec-français, Paris: Hachette
• “ἄτομος” in the Diccionario Griego–Español en línea (2006–2026)
• Strong, James (1979), “G823”, in Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance to the Bible
• Woodhouse, S. C. (1910), English–Greek Dictionary: A Vocabulary of the Attic Language‎^[1], London: Routledge & Kegan Paul Limited.
  • unmown idem, page 926.