τέχνη

Ancient Greek

Alternative forms

• τέχνᾱ (tékhnā) — Doric

Etymology

From Proto-Indo-European *téḱ-sneh₂, from *tetḱ- (“to create, produce”). Cognate with τίκτω (tíktō), τέκτων (téktōn), Sanskrit तक्षति (takṣati), Avestan 𐬙𐬀𐬱𐬀𐬌𐬙𐬌 (tašaⁱti), Latin texō, tēla, tignum, Proto-Germanic *þahsuz.

Pronunciation

 

• IPA^(key): /té.kʰnɛː/ → /ˈte.xni/ → /ˈte.xni/

• (5^th BCE Attic) IPA^(key): /té.kʰnɛː/
• (1^st CE Egyptian) IPA^(key): /ˈte.kʰne̝/
• (4^th CE Koine) IPA^(key): /ˈte.xni/
• (10^th CE Byzantine) IPA^(key): /ˈte.xni/
• (15^th CE Constantinopolitan) IPA^(key): /ˈte.xni/

Noun

τέχνη • (tékhnē) f (genitive τέχνης); first declension

1. craft, skill, trade
2. art
3. cunning, wile
4. means

Declension

First declension of ἡ τέχνη; τῆς τέχνης (Attic)

Case / #	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	ἡ τέχνη hē tékhnē	τὼ τέχνᾱ tṑ tékhnā	αἱ τέχναι hai tékhnai
Genitive	τῆς τέχνης tês tékhnēs	τοῖν τέχναιν toîn tékhnain	τῶν τεχνῶν tôn tekhnôn
Dative	τῇ τέχνῃ têi tékhnēi	τοῖν τέχναιν toîn tékhnain	ταῖς τέχναις taîs tékhnais
Accusative	τὴν τέχνην tḕn tékhnēn	τὼ τέχνᾱ tṑ tékhnā	τᾱ̀ς τέχνᾱς tā̀s tékhnās
Vocative	τέχνη tékhnē	τέχνᾱ tékhnā	τέχναι tékhnai
Notes:	This table gives Attic inflectional endings. For declension in other dialects, see Appendix:Ancient Greek dialectal declension.

Derived terms

• τεχνάζω (tekhnázō)
• τεχνάομαι (tekhnáomai)
• τεχνικός (tekhnikós)
• τεχνίτης (tekhnítēs)
• τεχνογρᾰ́φος (tekhnográphos)
• τεχνολογίᾱ (tekhnologíā)
• τεχνολόγος (tekhnológos)

 

Descendants

• Greek: τέχνη (téchni)
• → Latin: techna
• English: techno-

Further reading

• “τέχνη”, in Liddell & Scott (1940) A Greek–English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “τέχνη”, in Liddell & Scott (1889) An Intermediate Greek–English Lexicon, New York: Harper & Brothers
• “τέχνη”, in Autenrieth, Georg (1891) A Homeric Dictionary for Schools and Colleges, New York: Harper and Brothers
• τέχνη 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
• τέχνη in Cunliffe, Richard J. (1924) A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect: Expanded Edition, Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, published 1963
• G5078 in Strong, James (1979) 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.
  • accomplishment idem, page 6.
  • acquirement idem, page 9.
  • address idem, page 11.
  • adroitness idem, page 13.
  • art idem, page 42.
  • artifice idem, page 42.
  • attainment idem, page 50.
  • business idem, page 106.
  • cleverness idem, page 137.
  • craft idem, page 181.
  • cunning idem, page 189.
  • design idem, page 215.
  • dexterity idem, page 221.
  • diplomacy idem, page 225.
  • employment idem, page 269.
  • finesse idem, page 321.
  • guile idem, page 378.
  • handicraft idem, page 383.
  • industry idem, page 435.
  • knack idem, page 470.
  • labour idem, page 472.
  • machination idem, page 506.
  • management idem, page 511.
  • manœuvre idem, page 513.
  • occupation idem, page 568.
  • product idem, page 645.
  • profession idem, page 653.
  • skill idem, page 780.
  • sleight idem, page 783.
  • trade idem, page 885.
  • trick idem, page 894.
  • vocation idem, page 955.
  • wile idem, page 979.
  • work idem, page 988.
  • workmanship idem, page 989.
• “τέχνη”, in ΛΟΓΕΙΟΝ [Logeion] Dictionaries for Ancient Greek and Latin (in English, French, Spanish, German, Dutch and Chinese), University of Chicago, since 2011

Greek

Etymology

From Ancient Greek τέχνη (tékhnē).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈte.xni/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Hyphenation: τέ‧χνη

Noun

τέχνη • (téchni) f (plural τέχνες)

1. art, craftsmanship, style

Declension

	singular	plural
nominative	τέχνη (téchni)	τέχνες (téchnes)
genitive	τέχνης (téchnis)	τεχνών (technón)
accusative	τέχνη (téchni)	τέχνες (téchnes)
vocative	τέχνη (téchni)	τέχνες (téchnes)

Related terms

• απερίτεχνος (aperítechnos, “botched, crude”, adjective)
• εικαστικές τέχνες f pl (eikastikés téchnes, “visual arts”)
• τεχνήτιο n (technítio, “technetium”)
• τεχνική f (technikí, “technique”)
• τεχνικός (technikós, “technical”)
• τεχνίτης m (technítis, “technician, craftsman”)
• τεχνίτρια f (technítria, “technician, craftswoman”)
• τεχνολογία f (technología, “technology”)
• τεχνολόγος m or f (technológos, “technologist”)

 

Further reading

• τέχνη, in Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής [Dictionary of Standard Modern Greek], Triantafyllidis Foundation, 1998 at the Centre for the Greek language