From the book
A Chymical Dictionary
Gerhard Dorn and John French · Diotimos Editions · 2026
Browse this book’s lexicon →Orientation
At a Glance
- The wordA name that can praise expertise or condemn deception.
- In the bookThe distinction matters in works that contrast competent art with fraudulent practice.
- A place to readThe historical definition below, 1650 dictionary, unnumbered definition page 43; facsimile PDF page 371.
Historical definition
Sophistæ sometimes means masters of an art, or the wisest in an art; at other times it means sophisters, that is, deceivers or mountebanks.
Meaning
The definition explicitly records contrary evaluations. A sophist can be an expert or a deceptive pretender. Sometimes and at other times preserve the fact that the context determines which judgment is intended.
Use in the book
The distinction matters in works that contrast competent art with fraudulent practice. An isolated occurrence cannot be translated as deceiver merely because that sense is familiar. Nor should the flattering sense erase an author’s criticism when the surrounding passage supplies it.
Compare Spagirus, defined through the ability to distinguish good from bad and pure from impure. Both entries concern the identity of an artist, but Sophistæ records the instability of a name, while Spagirus gives an account of a valued discriminating skill.
Places to read
In this edition
Both favorable and unfavorable meanings are retained. Their opposition belongs to the historical definition and should remain easy for a reader to see.
Source note
Historical source. 1650 dictionary, unnumbered definition page 43; facsimile PDF page 371 — Facsimile
Sources. A Chymicall Dictionary (1650), s.v. Sophistæ; 1650 facsimile PDF p. 371; compare Spagirus