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Words, grammatical forms and meanings linked to the ontology.

hypostasis en · NOUN

Pronunciation

  • (US) audio
  • /haɪˈpɒstəsɪs/ (UK)
  • /haɪˈpɑstəsɪs/ (US)

Etymology

From Ecclesiastical Latin hypostasis, from Ancient Greek ὑπόστασις (hupóstasis, “sediment, foundation; substance, existence, essence”), from ὑπό (hupó, “under”) + στάσις (stásis, “standing”). Morphologically hypo- + -stasis.

Meanings

  1. (archaic, countable, uncountable) A sedimentary deposit, especially in urine.
    • Thus the kidneys also have their particular excrement which is contained in it and is the hypostasis (deposit). 1999, Paracelsus, “Opus Paramirum”, in Nicholas Goodrick-Clarke, transl., Essential Readings, North Atlantic Books, page 92:
    • Phi[sitian]. I view’d your vrine, and the Hipoſtates ^([sic – meaning Hipoſtaſis]) / Thick and obſcure doth make your danger great, […] c. 1587–1588 (date written), [Christopher Marlowe], Tamburlaine the Great. […] The Second Part […], 2nd edition, part 2, London: […] [R. Robinson for] Richard Iones, […], published 1592, →OCLC; reprinted as Tamburlaine the Great (A Scolar Press Facsimile), Menston, Yorkshire; London: Scolar Press, 1973, →ISBN, Act V, scene vi:
  2. (countable, uncountable) The essential person, specifically the single person of Christ (as distinguished from his ‘nature(s)’, human and divine), or of the three ‘persons’ of the Trinity (sharing a single ‘essence’).
    • As Gregory of Nyssa had explained, the three hypostases of Father, Son, and Spirit were not objective facts but simply “terms that we use” to express the way in which the “unnameable and unspeakable” divine nature (ousia) adapts itself to the limitations of our human minds. 2000, Karen Armstrong, The Battle for God, Harper, published 2004, page 69:
    • the hypostases of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit
    • As a result of this verbal pact, the Trinity consists of three equal hypostaseis in one ousia: three equal Persons (Father, Son, Holy Spirit) sharing one Essence or Substance (Trinity or Godhead). 2009, Diarmaid MacCulloch, A History of Christianity, Penguin, published 2010, page 218:
    • What did the God who hammered the universe together have to do with virtue, redemption, the strange doctrine of hypostasis? 1985 September 1, Anthony Burgess, The Kingdom of the Wicked, London: Hutchinson & Co., →ISBN:
  3. (countable, uncountable) The underlying reality or substance of something.
    • as far as we know, Porphyry did not consider the divine intellect to be a hypostasis clearly distinct from the Soul, but he often designated it ‘hypercosmic soul’. 2006, George E. Karamanolis, Plato and Aristotle in agreement?, page 320:
    • Rašnu, the "Judge", appears to be the hypostasis of the idea embodied in the common noun rašnu, "judging, one who judges". 1975, Mary Boyce, History of Zoroastrianism, volume I, Brill, page 59:
    • The One, Intellect and Soul, then, are the three transcendent sources – or hypostases – of existence. 1999, John Gregory, editor, The Neoplatonists: A Reader, page 13:
  4. (countable, uncountable) The underlying reality or substance of something. ▸ A relationship between a name and a known quantity, as a cultural personification (i.e. objectification with personality) of an entity or quality.
  5. (countable, uncountable) The underlying reality or substance of something. ▸ Referring to the hypostatic model of personality; i.e., asserting that humans present themselves in many different aspects or hypostases, depending on the internal and external realities they relate to, including different approaches to the study of personality.
  6. (countable, uncountable) The effect of one gene preventing another from expressing.
    • When penetrance is suppressed altogether, the term ‘epistasis’ (and ‘hypostasis’ of the suppressed gene) is used. 1997, Vogul & Motulsky, Human Genetics: Problems and Approaches, page 141:
  7. (countable, uncountable) Postmortem lividity; livor mortis; suggillation.
    • I am, of course, excluding the hypostasis produced by his having lain a whole week face downward in the cellar. That, naturally, is all in the front part of the body. 1937, Dorothy L. Sayers, Busman's Honeymoon:

Forms

SpellingFeaturesLabelsSource
hypostaseis Number=Plur lexicographic
hypostases Number=Plur lexicographic

Deriveds

hypostatic

Relateds

anhypostasia · hypostatize · enhypostasia

Synonyms

subsistence

Translations (56)

ru ипоста́сь (essential person, the single person of Christ) · cmn 本質 /本质 (inherent reality or substance) · cmn 位格 (essential person, the single person of Christ) · vi vị cách (essential person, the single person of Christ) · pl hipostaza (inherent reality or substance) · cmn 實體 /实体 (inherent reality or substance) · pl hipostaza (essential person, the single person of Christ) · ca hipòstasi (essential person, the single person of Christ) · ru гипо́стасис (inherent reality or substance) · de Hypostase (inherent reality or substance) · gl hipostase (sedimentary deposit) · cmn 基因抑制 (effect of one gene preventing another from expressing) · grc ὑπόστασις (inherent reality or substance) · ja 位格 (essential person, the single person of Christ) · de Hypostase (essential person, the single person of Christ) · de Hypostase (effect of one gene preventing another from expressing) · fi hypostasia (effect of one gene preventing another from expressing) · fi pohjasakka (sedimentary deposit) · bg хипостаза (sedimentary deposit) · ro esență (inherent reality or substance) · fi sedimentti (sedimentary deposit) · bg ипостас (essential person, the single person of Christ) · sv hypostas (essential person, the single person of Christ) · el υπόσταση (sedimentary deposit) · vi trầm tích (sedimentary deposit) · da hypostase (essential person, the single person of Christ) · bg хипостаза (effect of one gene preventing another from expressing) · vi vị cách (inherent reality or substance) · cmn 尿液沉渣 (sedimentary deposit) · ko 위격 (essential person, the single person of Christ) · sh hipostaza (sedimentary deposit) · bg същност (inherent reality or substance) · fr hypostase (inherent reality or substance) · ro hipostază (sedimentary deposit) · be іпаста́сь (essential person, the single person of Christ) · ca hipòstasi (sedimentary deposit) · fi hypostaasi (essential person, the single person of Christ) · gl hipostase (inherent reality or substance) · ar أُقْنُوم (essential person, the single person of Christ) · vi nhân vị (essential person, the single person of Christ) · uk іпоста́сь (essential person, the single person of Christ) · fr hypostase (essential person, the single person of Christ) · cmn 上位效應 /上位效应 (effect of one gene preventing another from expressing) · pl hipostaza (effect of one gene preventing another from expressing) · ca hipòstasi (inherent reality or substance) · fr hypostase (sedimentary deposit) · ru гипоста́з (sedimentary deposit) · fi hypostaasi (inherent reality or substance) · es hipóstasis (essential person, the single person of Christ) · hu hiposztázis (sedimentary deposit) · pl hipostaza (sedimentary deposit) · ru гипоста́з (effect of one gene preventing another from expressing) · el υπόσταση (inherent reality or substance) · bg есенция (inherent reality or substance) · gl hipostase (essential person, the single person of Christ) · cmn 沉澱物 /沉淀物 (sedimentary deposit)