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 C
1–36 of 284
Cabinet
A cabinet is a small repository or collection of precious or curious things.
Centuries of Meditations
Cadmia
Καδμίαν names the ingredient rendered cadmia.
Empedocles’ The Testimonia, Volume II
Cain
Cain appears once, in the p. 74 margin, as the addressee of a furious charge of lying.
Heinrich Khunrath’s Magnesia Catholica Philosophorum
Calcination and Reverberation
Calcination and reverberation are named laboratory operations associated here with the preparation of metallic powders and salts.
Heinrich Khunrath’s Magnesia Catholica Philosophorum
Calculation and geometry
Λογιστική is the art of calculation and γεωμετρική geometry; the even and the odd are the two kinds of number, and πλῆθος is number or quantity.
Charmides
Callaeschrus
Callaeschrus, of an old Athenian family akin to Solon, the lawgiver and poet of the early sixth century BC, was the father of Critias, Charmides' cousin and guardian. He is known almost only as his son's father.
Charmides
Callias and Calliades
Callias, son of Calliades, is the second named pupil said to have benefited from Zeno’s company.
Alcibiades I
Callicrite and knowing tyrannical things
Callicrite and Cyane are personal names.
Theages
Calling and perseverance
Calling and perseverance regulate both who undertakes the work and how one remains with its recognized ground.
Heinrich Khunrath’s Magnesia Catholica Philosophorum
Calliopeia
Calliopeia is the name by which the immortal Muse is addressed in B131.
Empedocles’ Complete Fragments, Volume I
Calumniator
The calumniator is a critic whose speech is slanderous, boastful or intrusive, distinguished from the modest objection that Khunrath says he welcomes.
Heinrich Khunrath’s Magnesia Catholica Philosophorum
Candles and the hall
Candelae are candles, aula a hall, and lumina their lights.
Marsilio Ficino’s Platonic Theology, Volume I
Candolle
The author named by Guérin for the three-volume Physiologie végétale, completed in April 1833.
The Green Notebook
Capacity
Capacity is room or ability to receive and contain.
Centuries of Meditations
Capnio and Reuchlin
The p. 147 margin names Capnio among the witnesses to the Azazel assertion.
Heinrich Khunrath’s Magnesia Catholica Philosophorum
Capping air
Epipōmatizein is to cap or cover as with a lid.
Empedocles’ The Testimonia, Volume II
Capriciousness
Emplēktos means capricious; erratic.
Lysis
Capturing the beloved
Haireō means take, capture, win; here, secure the beloved.
Lysis
Caput mortuum
The Latin expression, literally “dead head,” is a historical chemical name for residue after heating or distillation.
The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volumes I–II
Carcase and eagles
Carcase is the older spelling of carcass, a dead body.
Centuries of Meditations
Care
Κήδεσθαι is to be concerned for someone; ἐπιμέλεια, from μέλει, "it is a care", is the pains given to a thing, and ἀμελεῖν is to neglect it.
Charmides · Alcibiades I+5 books
Care for oneself
To care for oneself is to make oneself the object of sustained attention and improvement.
Alcibiades I
Carpenter and carpentry
Tektōn is a carpenter or builder; tektonikē is the corresponding craft, carpentry.
The Lovers
Carpenter and geometer
Faber lignarius is a woodworker or carpenter; lignum wood.
Marsilio Ficino’s Platonic Theology, Volume I
Cartilage
Chondros names cartilage or gristle.
Stobaeus, Volume I · Empedocles’ The Testimonia, Volume II
Catarrh
The participle rheumatizomenōn describes people affected by a flowing discharge or catarrh.
Empedocles’ The Testimonia, Volume II
Catholic and universal
Catholic and universal name what pertains to the whole rather than to one specified kind.
Heinrich Khunrath’s Magnesia Catholica Philosophorum
Catholic human being
The catholic human being is defined in the opening margin as the person who uses Nature's catholicism in attaining the Philosophers' Stone.
Heinrich Khunrath’s Magnesia Catholica Philosophorum
Catholic Sea
The catholic sea or ocean is expressly identified as Magnesia in the answer to the question where the Philosophers’ salt is found.
Heinrich Khunrath’s Magnesia Catholica Philosophorum
Cato
Cato here names the authority attached to the Distichs of Cato, a collection of Latin moral verses.
Centuries of Meditations
Cats
The cat condenses a cluster of qualities: beauty, luxury, cleanliness and sensual pleasure.
Intimate Journals
Cause
Aitia means cause; what accounts for something’s occurring.
Lysis · Stobaeus, Volume I+5 books
Cause and effect
Cause and effect distinguish what brings about something from what results.
The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volumes I–II
Cavalcanti and the five positions
An opinio is a position held or proposed for examination; caput is a principal heading under which positions can be collected.
Marsilio Ficino’s Platonic Theology, Volume II
Cave
Spēlaion is a cave or cavern.
Stobaeus, Volume I · Empedocles’ Complete Fragments, Volume I
Cavillers and boasting
The cauillatores and coarse friends addressed on p. 39 are warned against boasting and triumphing before victory.
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