ætern

A form of eterne — Eternal.

Meanings

adjectiveætern (comparative more ætern, superlative most ætern)

comparative more ætern · superlative most ætern

  1. alternativeAlternative spelling of eterne.

    Nay farther, and what Angels did admire, / For its Ætern Exemplar, the Moſt High, / Who with his work delighted, would retire / Frequent from Heav’n, as to divert, and view it nighe’r.

    1713, “Επωιδη. The Legend of Love”, in A Paraphrase on the Canticles, in English Rhythms, canto I, stanza LXI, page 74
    3 more examples

    The ætern, ſempitern, everlaſting Spirit of Promiſs, Life, Comfort, of Feith, Truth, Holineſs, of Grace, God, and of Glorie, teſtifieth, beareth record, and ſetteth it Seal to the Truth of Thour being the alone Autor of al Salvation.[…]: evn ſo I mi veri ſelf, O wretched man of men that I am, did hood-winkt, blind, blind-fold run, tumbl, ruſh throuh al manner of evils, when the briht, beuteous, fair liht of Thour bleſſed Spirit expanded it beams magnificently, ſpread forth it raies gloriouſly, ſhined reſplendently and directed, pointed, ſhewed me the vaie leading to the ætern Kingdoms of the bleſſed Cœlestial Inhabitants.

    1674, Marcus Antonius Flaminius, translated by John Norton, The Scholar’s Vade Mecum, or, The Serious Student’s Solid and Silent Tutor, London: […] T. Sawbridge, pages 74–75 and 87–88

    […]; that of an Ætern Beeing (c) of Beeings (nothing beeing abl to make it ſelf) Reaſon exiſteth, ſubſiſteth, ſtandeth, buildeth and finiſheth, I mean concludeth, That Æternitie it ſelf is:[…]

    1683, J[ohn] P[ordage], Theologia Mystica, or The Mystic Divinitie of the Æternal Invisibles, Viz. the Archetypous Globe, or the Original Globe, or World of All Globes, Worlds, Essences, Centers, Elements, Principles and Creations Whatsoever, London, page 101

    Quippe etenim mortale æterno jungere, & una / Conſentire putare, & fungi mutua poſſe, (eſt, / Deſipere est. Quid enim diverſius eſſe putandum / Aut magis inter ſe disjunctum, diſcrepitanſque, / Quam mortale quod eſt, immortali atque perenni / Junctum in concilio ſævas tolerare procellas? / To joyn the mortal then and the ætern / And think they can agree in one concern, / Is Madneſs. For what things more diff’ring are / Unlike betwixt themſelves, and fit to jarr? How can it then be thought, that theſe ſhould bear, / When thus conjoyn’d, of Storms an equal ſhare?

    1693, Michael Seigneur de Montaigne, translated by Charles Cotton, Essays of Michael Seigneur de Montaigne. In Three Books. With Marginal Notes and Quotations of the Cited Authors., the second edition, the second volume, London: […] T. Basset, […] and M. Gilliflower, and W. Hensman, […], page 362
Cite this entry
APA

ætern. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/%C3%A6tern

MLA

“ætern.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/%C3%A6tern. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “ætern,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/%C3%A6tern.

Source: ætern on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.