Etymology

From Proto-HellenicCategory:Ancient Greek terms inherited from Proto-Hellenic#ΤΕΛΟΣCategory:Ancient Greek terms derived from Proto-Hellenic#ΤΕΛΟΣ *kʷélos, from Proto-Indo-EuropeanCategory:Ancient Greek terms inherited from Proto-Indo-European#ΤΕΛΟΣCategory:Ancient Greek terms derived from Proto-Indo-European#ΤΕΛΟΣ *kʷél-os ~ *kʷél-es-. See Latin colō for more.

Like τέλλω (téllō), τέλος (télos) is a merger of two different roots: Proto-Indo-EuropeanCategory:Ancient Greek terms inherited from Proto-Indo-European#ΤΕΛΟΣCategory:Ancient Greek terms derived from Proto-Indo-European#ΤΕΛΟΣ *kʷel- (“to turn, revolve around”) and *telh₂- (“to bear, endure”), giving the two basic meanings of “end, goal”, i.e. “turning point (of the field or race-course)” (< *kʷel-), and “levy (of a tax or army)” (< *telh₂-).^[1]

Pronunciation

Noun

τέλος • (télos) n (genitive τέλους or τέλεος)Category:Ancient Greek lemmas#ΤΕΛΟΣCategory:Ancient Greek nouns#ΤΕΛΟΣCategory:Ancient Greek paroxytone terms#ΤΕΛΟΣCategory:Ancient Greek neuter nouns#ΤΕΛΟΣCategory:Ancient Greek third-declension nouns#ΤΕΛΟΣCategory:Ancient Greek neuter nouns in the third declension#ΤΕΛΟΣCategory:Ancient Greek entries with incorrect language header#ΤΕΛΟΣCategory:Ancient Greek neuter nouns#ΤΕΛΟΣCategory:Pages with entries#ΤΕΛΟΣCategory:Pages with 2 entries#ΤΕΛΟΣ; third declension

1. aim, purpose, end goal, design, final cause (as used by Aristotle and the philosophers; cf. teleology)
2. completion, maturity, accomplishment, fulfillment, perfection, consummation
3. result, product
4. end
   • 90 CE – 100 CE, Revelation 1:8:

     τὸ Α καὶ τὸ Ω, ἀρχὴ καὶ τέλος

     tò A kaì tò Ō, arkhḕ kaì télos

     Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending

     Category:Ancient Greek terms with quotations#ΤΕΛΟΣ
5. end of life: death
   • 50 CE – 100 CE, Epistle to the Hebrews 7:3
6. boundary, border, extremity
7. supreme power
8. the highest government office: magistrate
9. that which is ordered to be done: task, duty
10. money paid to the government: tax, toll
    • 70 CE – 90 CE, The Gospel of Matthew 17:25
11. a person's property, according to which he was classed
12. thus, generally: rank, class
13. unit of soldiers: legion, company
14. initiation (especially into mystery religions)
15. mystery religion
16. any religious ceremony

References

Further reading

• “τέλος”, in Liddell & Scott (1940), A Greek–English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “τέλος”, in Liddell & Scott (1889), An Intermediate Greek–English Lexicon, New York: Harper & Brothers
• “τέλος”, in Autenrieth, Georg (1891), A Homeric Dictionary for Schools and Colleges, New York: Harper and Brothers
• τέλος 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
• τέλος in Cunliffe, Richard J. (1924), A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect: Expanded Edition, Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, published 1963
• “τέλος”, in Slater, William J. (1969), Lexicon to Pindar, Berlin: Walter de Gruyter
• G5056 in Strong, James (1979), Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance to the Bible
• Woodhouse, S. C. (1910), English–Greek Dictionary: A Vocabulary of the Attic Language‎, London: Routledge & Kegan Paul Limited.
  • accomplishment idem, page 6.
  • ceremony idem, page 122.
  • cessation idem, page 122.
  • close idem, page 138.
  • completion idem, page 152.
  • conclusion idem, page 156.
  • consequence idem, page 162.
  • consummation idem, page 166.
  • culmination idem, page 188.
  • customs idem, page 192.
  • division idem, page 244.
  • due idem, page 255.
  • duty idem, page 257.
  • effect idem, page 262.
  • end idem, page 272.
  • event idem, page 285.
  • eventually idem, page 285.
  • excise idem, page 289.
  • expiration idem, page 294.
  • finality idem, page 320.
  • finally idem, page 320.
  • finish idem, page 321.
  • fulfilment idem, page 348.
  • function idem, page 349.
  • goal idem, page 365.
  • impost idem, page 423.
  • issue idem, page 461.
  • last idem, page 477.
  • legion idem, page 484.
  • office idem, page 571.
  • perfection idem, page 607.
  • period idem, page 607.
  • rate idem, page 673.
  • result idem, page 706.
  • rite idem, page 718.
  • royalty idem, page 724.
  • run idem, page 726.
  • sequel idem, page 754.
  • service idem, page 755.
  • squadron idem, page 807.
  • task idem, page 856.
  • tax idem, page 857.
  • termination idem, page 863.
  • toll idem, page 880.
  • troop idem, page 896.
  • ultimately idem, page 905.
  • worship idem, page 990.
• τέλος, in ΛΟΓΕΙΟΝ [Logeion] Dictionaries for Ancient Greek and Latin (in English, French, Spanish, German, Dutch and Chinese), University of Chicago, since 2011

Etymology

Inherited from Ancient GreekCategory:Greek terms inherited from Ancient Greek#ΤΕΛΟΣCategory:Greek terms derived from Ancient Greek#ΤΕΛΟΣ τέλος (télos). Sense "tax, dues", learnedly from Ancient GreekCategory:Greek terms derived from Ancient Greek#ΤΕΛΟΣ τέλος (télos).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈte.los/Category:Greek terms with IPA pronunciation#ΤΕΛΟΣ
• Hyphenation: τέ‧λος

Noun

τέλος • (télos) n (plural τέλη)Category:Greek lemmas#ΤΕΛΟΣCategory:Greek nouns#ΤΕΛΟΣCategory:Greek entries with incorrect language header#ΤΕΛΟΣCategory:Greek neuter nouns#ΤΕΛΟΣCategory:Pages with entries#ΤΕΛΟΣCategory:Pages with 2 entries#ΤΕΛΟΣ

1. end, finish

   Θα έρθω στο τέλος του μήνα. ― Tha értho sto télos tou mína. ― I will come at the end of the month.Category:Greek terms with usage examples#ΤΕΛΟΣ

   το τέλος του κόσμου ― to télos tou kósmou ― the end of the worldCategory:Greek terms with usage examples#ΤΕΛΟΣ

2. tax, dues paid to the government for specific public service, or product

   τέλος ακίνητης περιουσίας (ΤΑΠ) ― télos akínitis periousías (TAP) ― tax of real estateCategory:Greek terms with usage examples#ΤΕΛΟΣ

See also

• αρχή f (archí, “beginning”)

Further reading

• τέλος on the Greek Wikipedia.Wikipedia ^el