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 W
1–36 of 89
Wage
Misthos means wage, payment for service.
Lysis
Waking
Egrēgorenai means to be awake, a state distinguished from the transition of waking up.
Stobaeus, Volume I
Walker on air
Aithrobatēs names a walker on air or the open sky; in this passage it is Abaris’ epithet.
Empedocles’ The Testimonia, Volume II
Wandering
Πλανᾶσθαι means to wander or go astray.
Alcibiades I
War
Polemos is war or armed conflict and can also enter broader images of opposition.
Stobaeus, Volume I · The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volumes I–II+1 book
War and peace
Πόλεμος names war and πολεμεῖν making or waging war.
Alcibiades I · The Anatomy of Melancholy
Warmth and cold in generation
B65 names cold and, in an editorial supplement, heat; B67 uses the comparative “warmer” for the region associated with a male-bearing belly.
Empedocles’ Complete Fragments, Volume I
Wash and be clean
“Be ye washed, be ye clean” stands in the p. 106 margin beside an account of the truth tasted in a heart and brain theosophically cleansed of sophistries.
Heinrich Khunrath’s Magnesia Catholica Philosophorum
Washing-gold
Native washing-gold introduces the passage on poisonous volatile materials associated with certain ores and metals.
Heinrich Khunrath’s Magnesia Catholica Philosophorum
Wasting and consumption
Phthisis is wasting or diminution, the loss that something undergoes as its material is used up or passes away.
Stobaeus, Volume I · Empedocles’ The Testimonia, Volume II
Water
Hydōr is water, both an ordinary substance and a proposed constituent or principle.
Stobaeus, Volume I · The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volumes I–II+6 books
Water of Permanence
The permanent or abiding water is a philosophical water characterized by persistence.
Heinrich Khunrath’s Magnesia Catholica Philosophorum
Wave
Kyma is a wave or surge.
Stobaeus, Volume I · The Green Notebook
Wax nose
The wax nose is an image of wording that can be bent to serve the interpreter.
Heinrich Khunrath’s Magnesia Catholica Philosophorum
Weakness
Astheneia is weakness or lack of strength.
Stobaeus, Volume I · The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volumes I–II+1 book
Wealth
Plousios means rich.
Charmides · Alcibiades I+3 books
Wealth of understanding
Plouton is wealth, used metaphorically of understanding.
Empedocles’ Complete Fragments, Volume I
Wealth, bodily strength and fortune
The acquisition of money and strength of body are named advantages carried by the fair wind of fortune.
Alcibiades II
Weapons, combat and the artist
Weapons express powers of striking, piercing, corrupting, dissolving and fixing.
The Manly Hall Manuscript Collection, Volume I
Weariness
Fatigue and lassitude register the limits of present capacity, especially the mind’s capacity to continue work or judgment.
The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volumes I–II
Weariness and agility
Fatigare concerns tiring; labor toil; operosus laborious.
Marsilio Ficino’s Platonic Theology, Volume I
Weather indication
Episēmasia is an indication or sign, here connected with weather.
Stobaeus, Volume I
Weaving and world fabric
Machina designates an organized construction or fabric here; tela is a woven web, and retexere is to weave again or renew the weaving.
Marsilio Ficino’s Platonic Theology, Volume I
Weighing
Statikē is the art of weighing; stathmos is weight in this example.
Charmides
Weight
Helkein ordinarily means to draw or pull; in the weighing expression here, things “draw more,” that is, weigh more.
Minos · Stobaeus, Volume I
Weight and exchange
Σταθμός means weight, here a weight or amount measured by weighing.
Hipparchus
Weight and gravity
Poids and pesanteur concern weight; gravitation names a physical process or force.
The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volumes I–II
Weight and Measure
Weight and measure name determinate proportion, not a disclosed numerical recipe.
Heinrich Khunrath’s Magnesia Catholica Philosophorum
Well-ordered law
Eunomia is good order, especially order associated with law.
Stobaeus, Volume I
West wind
Zephyros names the west wind; a plural can encompass winds from the western quarter.
Stobaeus, Volume I
What depends on us
To eph’ hēmin is the expression for what depends on us or lies within our control.
Stobaeus, Volume I
What ought to be done
Ta deonta is the neuter plural participle of the impersonal verb dei, “it is necessary” or “one ought.”
Charmides
Whelks
The whelks of B76 are described as stony-skinned.
Empedocles’ Complete Fragments, Volume I
Whirlwind and hurricane
Typhōn denotes a violent whirlwind in these physical accounts.
Stobaeus, Volume I
White
Leukos means white.
Lysis · Stobaeus, Volume I+1 book
White discharge
B68 names a white πύον, translated “discharge,” and dates its appearance to the tenth of the eighth month.
Empedocles’ Complete Fragments, Volume I
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