Nature

==Etymology==
The word ''nature'' is borrowed from the [[Old French]] ''nature'' and is derived from the [[Latin]] word ''natura'', or "essential qualities, innate disposition", and in ancient times, literally meant "[[birth]]".<ref name="etymonline-nature">{{OEtymD|nature|access-date=September 23, 2006}}</ref> In ancient philosophy, ''natura'' is mostly used as the Latin translation of the Greek word ''[[physis]]'' (φύσις), which originally related to the intrinsic characteristics of plants, animals, and other features of the world to develop of their own accord.<ref>An account of the pre-Socratic use of the concept of φύσις may be found in Naddaf, Gerard (2006) ''The Greek Concept of Nature'', SUNY Press, and in {{cite journal |last1=Ducarme |first1=Frédéric |last2=Couvet |first2=Denis |year=2020 |title=What does 'nature' mean? |journal=[[Palgrave Communications]] |volume=6 |issue=14 |publisher=[[Springer Nature]] |doi=10.1057/s41599-020-0390-y |doi-access=free }}. The word φύσις, while first used in connection with a plant in Homer, occurs early in Greek philosophy, and in several senses. Generally, these senses match rather well the current senses in which the English word ''nature'' is used, as confirmed by Guthrie, W.K.C. ''Presocratic Tradition from Parmenides to Democritus'' (volume 2 of his ''History of Greek Philosophy''), Cambridge UP, 1965.</ref><ref>The first known use of ''physis'' was by [[Homer]] in reference to the intrinsic qualities of a plant: ὣς ἄρα φωνήσας πόρε φάρμακον ἀργεϊφόντης ἐκ γαίης ἐρύσας, καί μοι '''φύσιν''' αὐτοῦ ἔδειξε. (So saying, Argeiphontes [=Hermes] gave me the herb, drawing it from the ground, and showed me its '''nature'''.) ''[[Odyssey]]'' 10.302–303 (ed. A.T. Murray). (The word is dealt with thoroughly in Liddell and Scott's ''[http://archimedes.fas.harvard.edu/pollux Greek Lexicon] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110305235638/http://archimedes.fas.harvard.edu/pollux/ |date=March 5, 2011 }}''.) For later but still very early Greek uses of the term, see earlier note.</ref>
The concept of nature as a whole, the physical [[universe]], is one of several expansions of the original notion;<ref name="What does nature mean">{{cite journal |last1=Ducarme |first1=Frédéric |last2=Couvet |first2=Denis |year=2020 |title=What does 'nature' mean? |journal=[[Palgrave Communications]] |volume=6 |issue=14 |publisher=[[Springer Nature]] |doi=10.1057/s41599-020-0390-y |doi-access=free }}</ref> it began with certain core applications of the word φύσις by [[Pre-Socratic philosophy|pre-Socratic]] philosophers (though this word had a dynamic dimension then, especially for [[Heraclitus]]), and has steadily gained currency ever since.