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 collectionsEntries
289–324 of 2,960
Birth and ascent
Ascent names hereditary advancement in social rank, measured by sides or, below the equilateral threshold, by the size of an angle.
Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions
Birth-caul
Ἀμνίον survives as a single anatomical word, rendered “birth-caul.”
Empedocles’ Complete Fragments, Volume I
Bismuth
Bismuth opens the list of materials that other claimants identify with Magnesia on page 34.
Heinrich Khunrath’s Magnesia Catholica Philosophorum
Bitter
Pikros is bitter.
Stobaeus, Volume I
Black
Melas denotes black or darkness, depending on what is being described.
Stobaeus, Volume I · Empedocles’ The Testimonia, Volume II
Blackness and shadow
B94 is printed in Latin rather than Greek.
Empedocles’ Complete Fragments, Volume I
Bladder
Kustis is a bladder or sac.
Stobaeus, Volume I
Blasphemy
Blasphemy is both a charge Khunrath anticipates against himself and one he turns against contemptuous opponents.
Heinrich Khunrath’s Magnesia Catholica Philosophorum
Blessed
Μακάριος congratulates someone on an enviable lot; μάκαρ, the word it is formed from, is in Homer a standing epithet of the gods. The vocative ὦ μακάριε is a friendly address, "my dear fellow".
Charmides · Lysis+3 books
Blessed experience
Eupatheia is a good or happy experience.
Stobaeus, Volume I
Blessing
A blessing can be a bestowed good, the happiness attending it, or a good conferred through a person.
Centuries of Meditations
Blindness
Blindness is the absence of sight.
Centuries of Meditations
Blindness and the spectacled owl
Blindness is not a single condition throughout the book.
Heinrich Khunrath’s Magnesia Catholica Philosophorum
Blond hair
Xanthos means fair; blond, here of hair.
Lysis
Blood
Haima names blood.
Stobaeus, Volume I · The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volumes I–II+4 books
Blood movement
The participles describe blood travelling and running back again.
Empedocles’ The Testimonia, Volume II
Blood-rich liver
B150 consists of a noun and its adjective: the liver is “blood-rich.”
Empedocles’ Complete Fragments, Volume I
Bloodless animals
Anaimos means bloodless and enaimos blooded; anaimotata means least supplied with blood.
Empedocles’ The Testimonia, Volume II
Bloodless sacrifice
Bous is an ox, here an ox-shaped manufactured offering.
Empedocles’ The Testimonia, Volume II
Bloodstone
Bloodstone closes the specifically named run of candidates before the catalogue’s open-ended “and so on.”
Heinrich Khunrath’s Magnesia Catholica Philosophorum
Blushing
Erythriaō means blush; reveal embarrassment visibly.
Lysis
Bodily constitution and temperament
Complexio is a bodily constitution arising from the combination of contrary qualities.
Marsilio Ficino’s Platonic Theology, Volume II · The Anatomy of Melancholy
Bodily disorder
The phrase means from a bodily cause or disorder, with iniquitas literally suggesting an unequal or adverse condition.
Empedocles’ The Testimonia, Volume II
Bodily points and the seat of understanding
A bodily punctum is a limit of magnitude, not a tiny self-subsisting substance.
Marsilio Ficino’s Platonic Theology, Volume II
Bodily spirit and mediation
Spiritus in chapter 6 is explicitly a very subtle, luminous little body.
Marsilio Ficino’s Platonic Theology, Volume II
Body
Σῶμα is the body, the living frame of a man as against his soul, ψυχή.
Charmides · Alcibiades I+7 books
Body, instruments, and vital spirit
An instrument is a bodily means through which a power acts.
Marsilio Ficino’s Platonic Theology, Volume II
Body, soul, and the demand to specify improvement
Sōma is body and psychē soul.
Minos
Body, spirit and soul
Body, spirit and soul are the three constituents from which Nature composes the chymical little world.
Heinrich Khunrath’s Magnesia Catholica Philosophorum
Boiling heat
Ζέσις denotes boiling or seething heat.
Empedocles’ The Testimonia, Volume II
Boldness and daring
Tolma is daring or boldness; the related verb means to dare or venture.
Stobaeus, Volume I
Bolus and Red Earth
The source explicitly calls the red earth in its candidate list Bolus.
Heinrich Khunrath’s Magnesia Catholica Philosophorum
Bond
Desmos is a bond or tie.
Stobaeus, Volume I · Marsilio Ficino’s Platonic Theology, Volume I+1 book
Bone
Ostoun is bone; variant inflected forms occur in different dialectal and stylistic settings.
Stobaeus, Volume I · Empedocles’ Complete Fragments, Volume I+1 book
Bonus of Ferrara
Bonus of Ferrara enters through his new precious Pearl, cited by Latin title and chapter.
Heinrich Khunrath’s Magnesia Catholica Philosophorum
Book
Livre names a book, while ouvrage often emphasizes a made work.
The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volumes I–II · Centuries of Meditations
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