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
37–72 of 89
White lead
Psimythion means white lead, used here as a white coating.
Lysis
White measuring-line
Stathmē is a measuring or marking line used in building.
Charmides
Whitening of Venus
The “whitenings of Venus” are mentioned in a pointed marginal comment on the red-gold and glass-ore discussion.
Heinrich Khunrath’s Magnesia Catholica Philosophorum
Whitening, reddening and imbibition
Dealbation and rubification name whitening and reddening.
The Manly Hall Manuscript Collection, Volume I
Whole
Whole names something in its completeness.
Centuries of Meditations
Whole and part
Holos means whole or entire; meros means a part.
Charmides · The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volumes I–II
Whole-natured forms
Οὐλοφυεῖς qualifies τύποι, the forms or mould-like shapes that first rise out of earth in B62.
Empedocles’ Complete Fragments, Volume I · Empedocles’ The Testimonia, Volume II
Will
Volonté names a power of willing that can sustain virtue or bring inquiry prematurely to an end.
The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volumes I–II · Centuries of Meditations+5 books
Will and discipline
Will names a capacity to direct action, while discipline is the sustained ordering of conduct.
Ancient Mystic Oriental Masonry
Will and wish
Boulēsis is wishing or a wish; boulesthai is to wish or want.
Charmides · Hipparchus+2 books
Willingness and refusal
Ethelein and boulesthai express willingness, wanting or choice to do something.
Charmides · Theages
Wind
Anemos is wind.
Stobaeus, Volume I · The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volumes I–II+2 books
Wind-staying
The winds in B 111 are akamatoi, tireless, and destructive when their blasts ruin ploughland.
Empedocles’ Complete Fragments, Volume I · Empedocles’ The Testimonia, Volume II
Winds, Aquilon and flight
Wind expresses vaporous, volatile and carrying power.
The Manly Hall Manuscript Collection, Volume I
Windstorm
Eknephias is a squall issuing from a cloud.
Stobaeus, Volume I
Wine
Oinos means wine.
Lysis · The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volumes I–II+4 books
Wine and oil
B91 contrasts greater union with wine and unwillingness to unite with oil.
Empedocles’ Complete Fragments, Volume I
Wine-lover
Philoinos means fond of wine; a wine-lover.
Lysis
Wing-faring boats
The phrase rendered “wing-faring boats” names birds through a vessel image in B20.
Empedocles’ Complete Fragments, Volume I
Wings
Wings make unsupported movement and elevation imaginable.
The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volumes I–II
Winter and storm
Cheimōn can mean winter or stormy weather.
Stobaeus, Volume I · The Green Notebook
Wisdom
Σοφός can mean wise, knowledgeable, or skilled in a particular matter; σοφία is the corresponding wisdom.
Alcibiades I · Alcibiades II+8 books
Wisdom and folly
Sophos means wise or skilled according to context; sophiēs is the form translated wisdom in B 3.
Empedocles’ Complete Fragments, Volume I
Wisdom Strength and Beauty
Wisdom, Strength, and Beauty are complementary supports of a lodge, a well-made structure, and an ordered character.
Ancient Mystic Oriental Masonry
Wishing, refusing and the good
Velle wills or wishes; nolle does not will or refuses.
Marsilio Ficino’s Platonic Theology, Volume I
Wist
Wist is an old past-tense form meaning knew.
Centuries of Meditations
Wit
Esprit may mean verbal brilliance, and bel esprit can name the person who possesses or cultivates it.
The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volumes I–II · The Anatomy of Melancholy
Witchcraft
Witchcraft names a supposed human traffic with supernatural powers, especially the power to harm, deceive, alter affections, or cause and cure disease.
The Anatomy of Melancholy
Witness
Martys is a witness; the accusative singular μάρτυρα and genitive plural μαρτύρων first identify people who could attest what has been said.
Theages · Centuries of Meditations
Witnesses and reception
A witness is the author or document through which an Empedoclean passage reaches us.
Empedocles’ Complete Fragments, Volume I
Wittal and cuckold
A cuckold is a husband whose wife has sexual relations with another man.
The Anatomy of Melancholy
Wives and household
A household is a domestic group and the space of its daily relations.
Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions
Woman, child and seven-headed dragon
The woman, child, and dragon form a connected sacred and physical image.
The Manly Hall Manuscript Collection, Volume I
Womb
Mētra is the womb, the place of gestation in the selected physiological report.
Stobaeus, Volume I · Empedocles’ The Testimonia, Volume II
Women
Femme may designate an individual woman or a generalized social category.
The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volumes I–II · René+2 books
Women and spiritual equality
The book affirms women's inward spiritual capacity while restricting their access to the ceremonial initiation it describes.
Ancient Mystic Oriental Masonry
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