THEOSOPHY

CARDIFF

 

Theosophical Society, Cardiff Lodge

206 Newport Road,

Cardiff, Wales, UK, CF24 1DL

 

 

H P Blavatsky

 

Theosophical Glossary Listing

 

Glossaries of Interest to Theosophists

 

 

Glossary of

Homeric Greek

 

 

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aasamen - being deluded (as Agamemnon admitting his self-delusion when taking Briseis from Achilles

 

achos - remorse

 

agathoi, agathos - people of superior social status or noble station

 

aidos, aidomai, aidestheis - shame leading one to treat others with respect due to their status in the social world; fear of condemnation and disapproval of  one's social group

 

ainarete - the dreaded expression of arete or heroic excellence, leading to negative consequences which fail to serve the community

 

aisa - doom (as in regard to Achilles doomed to a short life)

 

akedees - uncaring; also means not giving due burial

 

akos - the remedy for a situation

 

anax andron - lord of men (said of Agamemnon)

 

androphonoio - manslaughtering

 

anthos - to flower and bloom (applied to young men)

 

apotino- paying the penalty, as for a breach of a treaty, or paying a compensation, as for a murder, so that one can regain acceptance to one's

community

 

arete - excellence, virtue (within one's social context); being the best you can be; also used to indicate courage and military prowess, derived

from Ares

 

aristeia - excellence, prowess as a warrior

 

aristos - to be the best; a man of excellence

 

atasthaliai - recklessness, as in too extreme an obsession with personal glory

 

atimus, atimazo - without honor, treating someone dishonorably

 

atuzomoi - terrified, as in taking flight (men at war, Astyanax)

 

basileus - king

 

bie - violence; forceful power

     

charis - gratitude, kindness

 

charme - delight, especially delight in battle

 

cholos - anger, wrath

 

damazo - to subjugate or dominate (a woman, a city or people)

 

dike - justice

 

dios - brilliant (Odysseus in cleverness, Achilles in battle)

 

eleaire, eleeson, eleairo, eleos - pity (not our current usage of the word pity in English, but also related to the source of the word, piety); a combination of compassionate feeling and feeling related to virtue or moral obligation  (also related to oiktos or oiktiro)

 

enees - amiable (Patroclus)

 

epios - gentle (said of Patroclus, and at times, Priam); in Homeric times, one generally seeks to be gentle when warranted with one's people, but harsh with the enemy

 

eris - strife, often referred to as soul-destroying

 

esthlos - brave, noble

 

eubolia - excellent counsel (Odysseus, Nestor, Phoinix)

 

eugenes - of noble birth

    

fatum - fate, see also moira

     

gera - gifts of honor

       

hamartia - "missing the mark"; error in judgment

 

helot - slave, has no rights

 

hemitheoi - demigods

 

heros - live and die in pursuit of honor and glory

 

hippodamoi - tamers of horses (Hector, the Trojans)

 

hire - sacred

 

hubris - excess pride or arrogance, usually leading to ruin (a serious flaw in  Greek heroes); excess of pride which shows disrespect for gods and man hupermoiran - seemingly beyond one's portion, acting in a way as if to seem  to transcend fate

     

ise moira - an equal portion of moira or fate

     

kakos - coward, base

 

kalon - noble; following the aristocratic agasthos standard of virtuous behavior

 

karteros - mighty

 

kedistui - bonds of close association (but not as close as philoi)

 

kemai - lie dead

 

ker - one's destined path

 

klea andron - famous deeds of heros

 

kleos esthlon - noble glory

 

kleos - glory, often implying fame and immortality (in the memory of others), achieved as a result of one's time (acts of excellence meriting

honor)

 

kolpos - riverbed; also a woman's nurturing bosom

 

kratos - possessing higher social status

 

kredemna - battlements, also a woman's veil, emblem of her chastity

 

NOTE: The term kredemnon luesthai means both to sack a city and  to breach female chastity.

kudos - triumphant power or success resulting in glory, prestige and high

rank

     

leistos - spoils or booty, as of war

     

makares - blessed

 

mechos - a device, mechanism or means

 

menie, menis - overpowering vengeful wrath, often

 

more than human

 

menos - energy, strength

 

metis - cunning (Odysseus)

 

minunthadios - short-lived (said of Achilles)

 

moira - fate, or one's allotment in terms of fate (often portrayed as negative  in the Iliad, and associated with doom or death; dissimilar to western  conceptions of destiny); derived from Moira, the impersonal goddess of destiny, as of Hesiod, considered to be the Moirae, the three Fates   (Clotho, Atropo and Lachesis);

     

neikos - shame-based public rebuke

 

nemesis - the indignation of the gods, often resulting from humans asserting themselves beyond their station (after Nemesis, the avenging goddess, who expressed righteous anger toward the proud and insolent)

 

nemesetos, nemesseton - eager to anger; expressing indignation

 

nepios - acting like  fool

     

oikos - household

 

oiktiro,  oiktos - pity; see eleeson

 

okumoros - fated to have a short life

 

oloos - accursedly desteructive, usually applied to destructive forces of nature,  but applied here to Agamemnon when he steals Briseis from

Achilles, and  Achilles after Patroclus' death

 

phaidimos - shining (Hector, Achilles)

 

phertoros - one who is more powerful

 

philos, philotes - friendship, used particularly to indicate family and friendship ties with those of the same group, involving affection and usually

implying  explicit or implicit expectations of reciprocity

 

philophrosune - friendly cooperation

 

pothe - desire or longing (the Greeks desiring that Achilles will return to action)

 

ptoliporthos - sacker of cities (Achilles, Odysseus)

 

podus okos OR poas tachus - swiftfooted (Achilles)

 

poine - payment, as compensation for death

 

polis - a social community or city-state, as Troy

 

polumetis - resourceful (Odysseus)

 

psuche - soul, wind-breath, life-breath, what makes a person alive (and no longer exists after death)

     

rechthentos - harm, leading to negative consequences

 

rheia - living easily (the gods in contrast to men)

     

sebas - shame; also revulsion, as against the enemy, for mutiliating corpses

     

tarchuo - to treat as a god

 

tarchusousi - to solemnly bury, originally meaning to make a hero of someone, to treat him as a god

 

thanatoio - one's portion of death

 

thumos - one's heart

 

time - honor; also meaning value, attributed to a person (as Achilles' time);  public acknowledgement of one's value/glory through awarding prizes; acclaim for achieving excellence (arete) in battle, sport or council; is often competitive; as in the Iliad, personal time can conflict with the time of one's community

     

xenie, xeinios, xeinia - hospitality, related to the tie between guest and hosts, and involving obligation and giving of gifts

 

 

 

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