From the book
Stobaeus, Volume I
John Stobaeus · Diotimos Editions · 2026
Browse this book’s lexicon →Cold
ψυχρόν
psychronPsychron denotes cold or what is cold.
Orientation
At a Glance
- The wordPsychron denotes cold or what is cold.
- In StobaeusCold is paired with hot in the account of Strato’s elements.
- In this editionThe rendering follows the grammar: “cold” for the quality, “the cold” where the adjective functions as a named principle.
- A place to beginCold is one of Strato’s reported elements.
- English renderings
- cold; the cold
Meaning
Psychron denotes cold or what is cold. It must be distinguished from psychē, soul: the similarity of their English transliterations is not a license to join the concepts.
Use in the book
Cold is paired with hot in the account of Strato’s elements. In the Aristotelian list it belongs to the powers associated with generated things. The contrast helps explain why an opposition such as hot and cold can organize a physical account without asserting that two independent substances are present.
Places to read
- I.10.12.9Cold is one of Strato’s reported elements.
- I.10.16a.3Cold belongs to the four elemental powers.
Translation in this edition
The rendering follows the grammar: “cold” for the quality, “the cold” where the adjective functions as a named principle. The surrounding report determines its explanatory status.
Source note
Wachsmuth, volume I, printed pp. 124, 128.
From the book
Empedocles’ The Testimonia, Volume II
Empedocles of Acragas · Diotimos Editions · 2026
Browse this book’s lexicon →Cold
ψυχρὰν (psychran); ψυχρότητος (psychrotētos); frigus
Psychros means cold; psychrotēs is coldness; frigus is the corresponding Latin noun.
Orientation
At a Glance
- The wordPsychros means cold; psychrotēs is coldness; frigus is the corresponding Latin noun.
- In this workCold has different roles in the physiological testimonia.
- In this editionThe explanatory opposition is transmitted through several authors, not through a single Empedoclean definition.
- A place to readAttributes sex differentiation to heat and coldness of the womb.
Meaning
Psychros means cold; psychrotēs is coldness; frigus is the corresponding Latin noun. These words can qualify a place or bodily material, or name the condition contrasted with heat. Coldness is not presented in this dossier as an additional independent root.
Use in the book
Cold has different roles in the physiological testimonia. Aristotle attributes female development to entry into a cold womb, while Censorinus organizes likeness and sex through the relative warmth and coldness of the parents' seeds. A782 explains nails through sinews chilled where they meet air. A85 distinguishes a moderate cooling that produces sleep from complete cooling producing death. These are specific causal attributions, not interchangeable propositions about all cold bodies. The lunar account of air congealed by fire also warns against equating every ancient setting or solidification with simple cooling. Hot and cold are opposed in explanatory language, but the material processes assigned to them are not a modern phase diagram. The reproductive claims should especially remain historical reports rather than statements of biological fact.
Places to read
- A 81 (polemical)23Aristotle, On the Generation of Animals. Attributes sex differentiation to heat and coldness of the womb.
- A 81 (testimony)23Censorinus, On the Birthday. Presents a different thermal scheme involving parental seeds.
- A 78 (testimony)2Aëtius. Explains nails through sinews chilled on encountering air.
- A 85 (testimony)Aëtius, first notice. Relates sleep and death to degrees of cooling.
Translation in this edition
The explanatory opposition is transmitted through several authors, not through a single Empedoclean definition. Censorinus' frigus is itself an editorial correction of a corrupt Latin reading, as the apparatus records.