Words · Meanings · Passages
Lexicon
Terms from the books in the Diotimos library, with definitions, translation notes, and links to their passages.
4,850 entries across 24 collectionsTerms beginning with M
37–72 of 193
Masses
Ὄγκοι are masses or bulks; the inflected form ὄγκων occurs in Aëtius’ claim that the elements are assembled from smaller units.
Empedocles’ The Testimonia, Volume II
Master
Despotēs is a master, a person with authority over a household and, in the relevant social setting, over slaves.
The Lovers · Lysis+1 book
Master and mastery
A master is an advanced practitioner or being; mastery is the understanding and deliberate direction attributed to that status.
The Kybalion
Master Mason
Master Mason is a formal Craft rank and, in the stronger interpretive sense, a person who has realized the knowledge and moral achievement represented by mastery.
Ancient Mystic Oriental Masonry
Master of the feast
Symposiarchos means the person directing a drinking party.
Empedocles’ The Testimonia, Volume II
Mastery, safety, and whatever chance brings
Enkratēs means having power over or being master of something, commonly with a genitive indicating its object.
Theages
Material and in matter
Enylos means in matter or material.
Stobaeus, Volume I
Material subtlety and coarseness
Subtil can concern fineness of substance, not merely intellectual cleverness.
The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volumes I–II
Materialism and spiritualism
These terms distinguish orientations toward matter and spirit, but Joubert can separate an explanation’s method from its author’s sentiments and doctrine.
The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volumes I–II
Maternal imagination
Phantasia can mean appearance, presentation, or imagination; the edition chooses imagination.
Empedocles’ The Testimonia, Volume II · The Anatomy of Melancholy
Mathematics
Mathematics works with quantities, figures, or relations abstracted from material particulars.
The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volumes I–II
Matrix and mother
Matrix and mother can mean the womb.
The Anatomy of Melancholy
Matter
Hylē concerns material, and in philosophical definitions what underlies change.
Stobaeus, Volume I · The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volumes I–II+6 books
Matter and intelligence
The closing metaphysical discussion describes graded forms of intelligence across an ordered nature.
Ancient Mystic Oriental Masonry
Maximal concession
The idiom hoti malista intensifies a claim or degree; in these conditional settings it presses an assumption as far as the argument needs.
Charmides
Mean and mediation
Mesotēs is a mean or intermediate relation.
Stobaeus, Volume I
Meaning
Sens and signification can name what words convey.
The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volumes I–II · Marsilio Ficino’s Platonic Theology, Volume I
Means musical ratios and the gift of the Muses
Mesos means middle; in the proportional account it designates a mean between extremes, akra.
Epinomis
Measure
Metron is a measure by which an amount or relation is determined.
Stobaeus, Volume I · The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volumes I–II+2 books
Measuring infinity and thinking being and nonbeing
Aequatio is correspondence between knower and known; mensura is the measure by which something is apprehended.
Marsilio Ficino’s Platonic Theology, Volume II
Meat-eating
The poems' verbs emphasize devouring and eating rather than a neutral dietary category.
Empedocles’ Complete Fragments, Volume I
Mechanism
Mechanism is a working arrangement or explanatory construction; machine can name bodily, political, or argumentative machinery.
The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volumes I–II
Meddling
The imperfect plural ἐπολυπραγμονεῖτε asks whether the boys were being meddlesome or busying themselves with too many affairs.
Charmides
Medea and medicinal art
Medea is Jason's adviser and medicinal helper.
The Manly Hall Manuscript Collection, Volume I
Medical traditions
Asklēpiadai is the group designation rendered Asclepiads.
Empedocles’ The Testimonia, Volume II
Medical writings
Iatrikos logos means a medical discourse or account.
Empedocles’ The Testimonia, Volume II
Medicine
Iatros is a doctor or physician.
Charmides · Alcibiades I+8 books
Medicine and Transmutation
Medicine and transmutation are related uses of the prepared matter, not equivalent measures of success.
Heinrich Khunrath’s Magnesia Catholica Philosophorum
Medicine, music, and gymnastics as fields of expertise
Iatrikē is medicine, mousikē music or musical cultivation, and gymnastikē the expertise of bodily training.
Theages
Mediocrity
Mediocrity means a middle state, a moderate degree, or a position between opposing judgments.
The Anatomy of Melancholy
Meditation and contemplation
Méditation and contemplation are related modes of inward engagement.
The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volumes I–II · Centuries of Meditations+1 book
Meekness
Meekness is a restrained and gentle disposition, especially under provocation.
Centuries of Meditations
Meidias
The Athenian named as a contemptible local political comparator and marked with the epithet “quail-tapper.”
Alcibiades I
Melancholy
Mélancolie names a feeling of inward enclosure; mélancolique can also characterize a person whose perception has unusual sharpness.
The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volumes I–II · The Green Notebook+4 books
Members, house and sinew
Membrum is an organic member.
Marsilio Ficino’s Platonic Theology, Volume II
Memory
Memnēsthai is to remember or retain in memory.
Charmides · Hipparchus+9 books
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
Diotimos Editions · 2026
Ancient Mystic Oriental Masonry Lexicon
Ancient Mystic Oriental Masonry · R. Swinburne Clymer
131 entries · 495 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
295 entries · 6,097 subsidiary terms
October 2026
Guérin Lexicon
The Green Notebook · Maurice de Guérin
165 entries · 0 subsidiary terms
Diotimos Editions · 2026
The Kybalion Lexicon
The Kybalion · Three Initiates
92 entries · 347 subsidiary terms
October 2026
Plato’s Lovers Lexicon
The Lovers · Plato
83 entries · 361 subsidiary terms
Diotimos Editions · 2026
The Manly Hall Manuscript Collection, Volume I Lexicon
The Manly Hall Manuscript Collection, Volume I · Attributed to Abraham the Jew
138 entries · 541 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