Here´s my research (using woodhouse´s online dict):
interesting: epagogos, prosagogos
alluring: epholkos
entertaining: geloios
then I decided to try another way. So I looked up “interesting” on whitaker words. nothing. but iucundus is: pleasant/agreeable/delightful/pleasing.
So I looked up those four words on woodhouse again.
all 4 have: hedys
pleasant and delightful also have: terpnos
agreeable and pleasing also hve: arestos
All I wanted is a word which is closest to meaning “arousing or holding the attention”.
It´s amazing to me that this is such a hard word (for me at least) to find an equivalent to, and also it amazes me that this word does not derive from the word for “attention”.
Also, how could I use greek to make a compound word meaning “one who seeks interesting things” ? hydezeteon?
The “interesting things” part I bet all I have to do is put it on neuter nominative plural (if Greek works like Latin where “bona” is “good things” for instance)
I’m sorry I’ve got no help for you as far as finding the word for “interesting” is concerned, but I do know that Greek does make use of substantives quite a bit. i.e., you can get away with just the definite article plus the neuter plural of “interesting” to express “interesting things.”
Thanks for the suggestions.
It is indeed interesting that the Greeks and Romans perhaps did not find anything interesting
Annis, have you ever come across any Greek authors mentioning that something is interesting?
I wanted to find the word that they used to mean “interesting”, not something we modern people can do with, but maybe their word for that did not exist really.
Did they ever use hedys or terpnos for “interesting”?
Starting with diaforos, can we not make endiaferon for interesting, adiaforos for uninterested? We may so get off the nuance of the difference that diaforos has. I wonder why endiaferon was not used for interesting in ancient Greek.
I’m sure they did. In modern English, at least, “interesting” covers quite a range, from “noteworthy” to “arousing attention” or even “unexpected.” I often use the word in a negative sense, to describe the mysterious behaviors computer exhibit.
So rather than not finding things interesting, they chose words to describe the nature of the interest.
Annis, have you ever come across any Greek authors mentioning that something is interesting?
I can’t say that I have. My reading is still mostly poets rather than philosophers or historians.
Did they ever use hedys or terpnos for “interesting”?
hey ThomasGR, would you mind explaining to me how you went from diaforos to endiaferon? thats interesting because modern greek does use endiaferon for interesting. also, i´d love if you could explain how endiaferon does not carry the “difference” connotation that diaforos has.
(does “different” come from “diaforos”? hmm…)
Annis, the nature of the type of interesting that I needed was the kind that arouses attention only.
And thanks for the other dictionary, i did not know that one.
It is modern Greek. I had always wondered about the connections of diaforos, adiaforos, diaforetiko and endiaferon, endiaferomai. Though diaforetiko has the meaning of different, in endiaferomai it is not anymore present. But again, if we make the precise analysis, it does, though no one is aware of it. What could be the precise meaning of endiaferomai, without using the word interesting?
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