Definitions For Ergon

Noun

ERGON (uncountable) (physics) work, work, measured in terms of the quantity of heat to which it is equivalent. (Classical philosophy) A task or function of a creature. :1874 "O where is that humming stuff now / With Irish 'vis' and 'vir' gone? / We haven't brain enough now / For Aristotle's ergon!" Punch Magazine 16 March 1874, .

Derived terms

ergonal ergal erg

Etymology

Borrowed from {{bor, en, grc, ἔργον}}. {{doublet, en, work}}. In philosophy, the word is loaned in its capacity as a technical term in Aristotelianism, in English usage following Alexander Grant, The Ethics of Aristotle (1857). In classical thermodynamics, the term is coined as translating German Werk. Rudolf Clausius (1864) made a technical distinction between {{lang, de, Werk}} and Arbeit, both translating to English "work", and suggested {{lang, de, Ergon}} for the purposes of the translation of his terminology into other modern languages. {{blockquote, The author has used the German word {{lang, de, Werk}}, which is almost synonymous with {{lang, de, Arbeit}}, but proposes the term {{lang, de, Ergon}} as more suitable for introduction into other languages. The Greek word {{lang, grc, ἔργον}} is so closely allied to the English word work, that both are quite well suited to designate two magnitudes which are essentially the same, but measured according to different units., T.A.H.", T. A. Hirst (trans.), The Mechanical Theory of Heat (1867), Appendix A. to Sixth Memoir [1864], "On Terminology" (translator's note), .}}