Glossary
Thirteen terms, fixed to one English rendering wherever the Greek or the Latin author uses them, so that a thread can be followed by its own words rather than by whichever translator's habits happened to land on a page. Frozen at the pilot's translation phase; a departure is recorded on the unit that makes it, never made silently.
| Greek | Latin | English |
|---|---|---|
| τὸ ἕν | unum | the One (as principle); "one" / "unity" as predicate |
| νοῦς | intellectus / intelligentia | intellect (LdC intelligentia = "intelligence" only when the Latin author distinguishes it from intellectus) |
| ψυχή | anima | soul |
| μετέχειν / μετοχή | participare / participatio | participate / participation |
| ὑπόστασις | hypostasis / substantia | hypostasis (Greek); "substance" for Latin substantia |
| πρόοδος | processio | procession |
| ἐπιστροφή | conversio / reditus | reversion |
| ἕνωσις | unio | unification |
| ἀμέθεκτος / μετεχόμενος | imparticipatum / participatum | unparticipated / participated |
| αἴτιον / αἰτία | causa | cause; causa prima = "the first cause" |
| τὸ ὄν / esse | ens / esse | being (τὸ ὄν, ens); "to be" / "being" for esse — say which in notes where it matters |
| αὐτάρκης | sibi sufficiens | self-sufficient |
| ἀΐδιος | aeternus / sempiternus | eternal; sempiternus = "everlasting" |
| τὸ καλόν / κάλλος | pulchrum / pulchritudo | the beautiful (τὸ καλόν as the principle); "beauty" for κάλλος; never "the fine" |
| αἴσθησις | sensus | sense-perception (αἴσθησις); "the senses" only where the Latin has the plural |
| συμμετρία | commensuratio | commensurability; σύμμετρος = "commensurate", not "proportionate" |
| εἶδος / ἰδέα | forma / idea | form (εἶδος); "idea" for ἰδέα where the text distinguishes them |
| λόγος | ratio | rational form (λόγος as the forming principle in things); the ordinary senses keep ordinary English — "the argument", "the saying", "ratio" — and the unit says which |
| ὕλη | materia | matter |
| μορφή / μορφοῦν | forma / figura | shape / to shape — kept apart from εἶδος "form"; ἄμορφος = "shapeless" |
| κάθαρσις / καθαρός | purgatio / purus | purification / pure; ἀκάθαρτος = "impure" |
| αἰσχρός / αἶσχος | turpis / turpitudo | ugly / ugliness — held even of soul, so the argument keeps its symmetry with καλός; never "shameful" |
| καλλονή | pulchritudo | loveliness — kept apart from κάλλος "beauty", since Plotinus uses it for the principle |
| ἔρως / ἐρᾶν | amor / amare | love / to love; ἐραστής = "lover"; φιλεῖν = "hold dear" |
| ἀρετή; σωφροσύνη, ἀνδρεία, δικαιοσύνη, φρόνησις | virtus; temperantia, fortitudo, iustitia, prudentia | virtue; self-control, courage, justice, wisdom (φρόνησις — "practical wisdom" only where the text sets it against σοφία) |
| φύσις | natura | nature |
| θεωρία / θεωρεῖν | contemplatio / contemplari | contemplation / contemplate; θεᾶσθαι stays "behold" |
| θεώρημα / θέαμα | speculatum / spectaculum | object of contemplation (θεώρημα); "theorem" only in the geometers' sense, and the unit says so; θέαμα = "spectacle" |
| ποίησις / ποιεῖν; πρᾶξις | factio / facere; actio | making / make; action — kept apart, since Enn. III.8 argues that both fall short of contemplation |
| ἐπιτηδειότης / ἐπιτήδειος | aptitudo / aptus | fitness / fit (for) — the receiver's readiness for a form or power |
| ἐνέργεια / δύναμις | actus / potentia | activity / power; τὸ ἐνεργείᾳ = 'the actual', δυνάμει = 'potentially', where the text opposes them |
| οὐσία | substantia / essentia | substance |
| ζῷον | animal | living being; 'animal' only where the text sets it against plants |
Fixed once, early in the pilot's translation, and held across every bench since.