Words · Meanings · Passages
Lexicon
Terms from the books in the Diotimos library, with definitions, translation notes, and links to their passages.
4,297 entries across 21 collectionsTerms beginning with A
181–216 of 233
Articulation
Diarthrōsis is articulation or differentiation into distinct parts; diakrisis is separation or discrimination; diamorphoutai means is shaped or formed.
Empedocles’ The Testimonia, Volume II
Artifact and natural work
Artificium here is a crafted product or artifact, not deceit.
Marsilio Ficino’s Platonic Theology, Volume I
Artifice
Artifice names a constructed means, contrivance or effect.
The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volumes I–II
Artisan and soldier
An artisan is a skilled worker; a soldier belongs to the military.
Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions
Ascent
Anodos is ascent.
Stobaeus, Volume I · Marsilio Ficino’s Platonic Theology, Volume I
Ascetic austerity
Austérité can be a discipline of conduct or withdrawal from sensory occupation, but its value is judged by what it produces in the soul.
The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volumes I–II
Assembly of the Thousand
Athroisma is an assembly, gathering, or body; “of the Thousand” gives its numerical designation.
Empedocles’ The Testimonia, Volume II
Assent
Assent is acceptance of what is presented.
Stobaeus, Volume I · The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volumes I–II+1 book
Assertion
An assertion advances a claim or position.
The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volumes I–II
Assertion, report, and reservation
Placere can mean finding a view acceptable, not simply enjoying it; arbitrari judges or holds; narrare relates an account.
Marsilio Ficino’s Platonic Theology, Volume I
Asses’ hides
The Life’s wording orders asses to be flayed and askoi, skin bags, to be made.
Empedocles’ The Testimonia, Volume II
Assigned portion
Lēxis is an allotment or the portion assigned.
Stobaeus, Volume I
Association and intercourse
Synousia is being together, company or association.
Theages · Minos+2 books
Astringent
Struphnos and stuphnos belong to the vocabulary of astringency, a constricting or drying sensation.
Stobaeus, Volume I
Astrological aspects
An astrological “aspect” is a relationship between positions in a chart, commonly described as the heavenly bodies looking at or casting rays upon one another.
The Anatomy of Melancholy
Astrological significators
A “significator” is an astrological indicator: a celestial body or chart point assigned to represent the person, condition or matter being judged.
The Anatomy of Melancholy
Astrology
“judicial Astrology” is astrology that judges human dispositions and events from celestial configurations.
The Anatomy of Melancholy
Astronomy Hesiod and the surprising name of wisdom
Astronomia is the study of the stars, astronomos its practitioner, and astronomein the corresponding activity.
Epinomis
Athanor
The philosophical Athanor is the named furnace of the two constructive preparations.
Heinrich Khunrath’s Magnesia Catholica Philosophorum
Atheism
Athéisme is characterized polemically in different ways; one note distinguishes a tendency to dispense with the idea of God from a tendency to dispense with his intervention in human affairs.
The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volumes I–II · Centuries of Meditations
Athena and Diomedes
Athena’s removal of mist from Diomedes’ eyes supplies the final image of educational preparation.
Alcibiades II
Athens
Ἀθῆναι (Athēnai) is Athens; Ἀθήνησιν (Athēnēsin), its old locative, means "at Athens".
Charmides · Alcibiades I+2 books
Athletics
Παλαίειν is to wrestle, πυκτεύειν to box, παγκρατιάζειν to fight in the pancration (a contest that combined boxing and wrestling), θεῖν to run and ἅλλεσθαι to jump: the exercises an Athenian boy learned from his trainer.
Charmides · Alcibiades I+1 book
Atmosphere
Atmosphere is not merely the background against which a narrative happens.
Intimate Journals
Atom
The adjective means uncut or indivisible; its neuter plural can designate atoms.
Stobaeus, Volume I
Atoms
Atoms are presented as indivisible constituent particles, but also as an image for smallness and for sharply defined units of writing.
The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volumes I–II
Attachment
Prospatheia is attachment or an affective inclination toward something.
Stobaeus, Volume I
Attachment and detachment
The attacher family describes bonds whose worth depends on their object; détachement need not imply contempt.
The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volumes I–II
Attention
Νοῦς is mind, and in ordinary speech good sense. To hold the mind toward something, προσέχειν τὸν νοῦν, is to pay attention to it; ἐννοεῖν, to have in mind, is to consider; ἄνοια, the want of νοῦς, is folly.
Charmides · Alcibiades I+1 book
Attention and answering
Prosechō means to direct or apply; with nous, mind or understanding, it forms the idiom “pay attention.”
Hipparchus
Attention and joint discovery
To prosechein ton noun is to apply or turn one’s mind to something, hence pay attention.
Alcibiades II
Attraction and affinity
Attraction names a drawing or pulling; affinity names a kinship or correspondence.
The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volumes I–II
Attraction and climate
Attraction is Flatland's persistent pull towards the South.
Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions
Attraction and loadstone
A loadstone is a naturally magnetic stone.
Centuries of Meditations · Empedocles’ The Testimonia, Volume II
Augustine and Christian proximity
Aureliana is an adjective referring back to Aurelius Augustine in the preceding unit.
Marsilio Ficino’s Platonic Theology, Volume I
Aurora
Aurora is the Philosophers' dawn, used in two primary marginal warnings about corporeal mercuries.
Heinrich Khunrath’s Magnesia Catholica Philosophorum
Books in the Lexicon
October 2026
Plato’s Alcibiades I Lexicon
Alcibiades I · Plato
176 entries · 701 subsidiary terms
October 2026
Plato’s Alcibiades II Lexicon
Alcibiades II · Plato
94 entries · 290 subsidiary terms
October 2026
Traherne Lexicon
Centuries of Meditations · Thomas Traherne
471 entries · 0 subsidiary terms
October 2026
Plato’s Charmides Lexicon
Charmides · Plato
173 entries · 777 subsidiary terms
October 2026
Empedocles Lexicon
Empedocles, Volumes I–II · Empedocles of Acragas
490 entries · 0 subsidiary terms
October 2026
Plato’s Epinomis Lexicon
Epinomis · Plato
77 entries · 1,061 subsidiary terms
October 2026
Flatland Literary Lexicon
Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions · Edwin A. Abbott
85 entries · 476 subsidiary terms
October 2026
Khunrath Lexicon
Heinrich Khunrath’s Magnesia Catholica Philosophorum · Heinrich Khunrath
326 entries · 0 subsidiary terms
October 2026
Plato’s Hipparchus Lexicon
Hipparchus · Plato
90 entries · 291 subsidiary terms
October 2026
Baudelaire Literary Lexicon
Intimate Journals · Charles Baudelaire
80 entries · 323 subsidiary terms
October 2026
Plato’s Lysis Lexicon
Lysis · Plato
239 entries · 0 subsidiary terms
October 2026
Ficino’s Platonic Theology, Volume I Lexicon
Marsilio Ficino’s Platonic Theology, Volume I · Marsilio Ficino
231 entries · 1,313 subsidiary terms
October 2026
Ficino’s Platonic Theology, Volume II Lexicon
Marsilio Ficino’s Platonic Theology, Volume II · Marsilio Ficino
148 entries · 1,398 subsidiary terms
October 2026
Plato’s Minos Lexicon
Minos · Plato
54 entries · 506 subsidiary terms
October 2026
René Literary Lexicon
René · François-René de Chateaubriand
81 entries · 275 subsidiary terms
October 2026
Stobaeus Lexicon
Stobaeus, Volume I · John Stobaeus
610 entries · 85 subsidiary terms
October 2026
Burton’s Anatomy of Melancholy Lexicon
The Anatomy of Melancholy · Robert Burton
103 entries · 3,864 subsidiary terms
October 2026
Guérin Lexicon
The Green Notebook · Maurice de Guérin
165 entries · 0 subsidiary terms
October 2026
Plato’s Lovers Lexicon
The Lovers · Plato
83 entries · 361 subsidiary terms
October 2026
Joubert Lexicon
The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volumes I–II · Joseph Joubert
459 entries · 110 subsidiary terms
October 2026
Plato’s Theages Lexicon
Theages · Plato
62 entries · 510 subsidiary terms