SOCRATES: I do not think, Hermogenes, that there is any great
difficulty about them—edone is e (eta) onesis, the action which tends
to advantage; and the original form may be supposed to have been eone,
but this has been altered by the insertion of the delta. Lupe appears
to be derived from the relaxation (luein) which the body feels when in
sorrow; ania (trouble) is the hindrance of motion (alpha and ienai);
algedon (distress), if I am not mistaken, is a foreign word, which is
derived from aleinos (grievous); odune (grief) is called from the
putting on (endusis) sorrow; in achthedon (vexation) “the word too
labours,” as any one may see; chara (joy) is the very expression of the
fluency and diffusion of the soul (cheo); terpsis (delight) is so
called from the pleasure creeping (erpon) through the soul, which may
be likened to a breath (pnoe) and is properly erpnoun, but has been
altered by time into terpnon; eupherosune (cheerfulness) and epithumia
explain themselves; the former, which ought to be eupherosune and has
been changed euphrosune, is named, as every one may see, from the soul
moving (pheresthai) in harmony with nature; epithumia is really e epi
ton thumon iousa dunamis, the power which enters into the soul; thumos
(passion) is called from the rushing (thuseos) and boiling of the soul;
imeros (desire) denotes the stream (rous) which most draws the soul dia
ten esin tes roes—because flowing with desire (iemenos), and expresses
a longing after things and violent attraction of the soul to them, and
is termed imeros from possessing this power; pothos (longing) is
expressive of the desire of that which is not present but absent, and
in another place (pou); this is the reason why the name pothos is
applied to things absent, as imeros is to things present; eros (love)
is so called because flowing in (esron) from without; the stream is not
inherent, but is an influence introduced through the eyes, and from
flowing in was called esros (influx) in the old time when they used
omicron for omega, and is called eros, now that omega is substituted
for omicron. But why do you not give me another word?
HERMOGENES: What do you think of doxa (opinion), and that class of
words?
SOCRATES: Doxa is either derived from dioxis (pursuit), and expresses
the march of the soul in the pursuit of knowledge, or from the shooting
of a bow (toxon); the latter is more likely, and is confirmed by oiesis
(thinking), which is only oisis (moving), and implies the movement of
the soul to the essential nature of each thing—just as boule (counsel)
has to do with shooting (bole); and boulesthai (to wish) combines the
notion of aiming and deliberating—all these words seem to follow doxa,
and all involve the idea of shooting, just as aboulia, absence of
counsel, on the other hand, is a mishap, or missing, or mistaking of
the mark, or aim, or proposal, or object.
HERMOGENES: You are quickening your pace now, Socrates.