What is the Greek word for “stupid”? What is its spelling in Greek letters? Beggars shouldn’t be choosers, but - if you can, please write out the English names of the letters, like “alpha beta”, so there’s no chance font foibles will corrupt your answer.
Is there a word that more specifically suggests what I’d call “Luddite”, expressing a foolish and stubborn refusal to adopt modern viewpoints to a degree that is destructive?
Thanks!
FWIW, I seem to remember that the original Greek for “idiot” meant “one who takes no role in governance.”
I think the most common word is amathês (alpha mu alpha theta eta sigma) - literally, unlearned. I can’t think of a word to describe the more specific kind of stupidity you’re looking for, especially since progress wasn’t really a virtue in Greece.
No “W” in the Greek alphabet, unfortunately.
I tell ya, those Greeks is pretty smart…
Cyprus.net’s English-Classic Greek lexicon gives asynetos as the proper translation of stupid. (Middle vowels are upsilon and epsilon.)
Not asked, but the Latin word is stultus.
They’re well-reared.
Any minute now, someone’s gonna make a crowbar joke…
Hmm… how about μоρоς (moros), from which we get moron?
That’s Mu, Omicron, Rho, Omicron, Sigma.
That’s Classical Attic Greek, of course.
Aphron (alpha phi rho omega nu) is an adjective meaning “senseless, brainless, stupid.”
Like Quartz says, Moros is “foolish” or “fool.”
(Hey, Quartz, how did you code that Greek font?)
(Crooning) Put them all together they spell Dubya.
That’d be from ‘α’ for ‘not’ and ‘φρων’ for ‘brain’, IIRC. Actually, isn’t that simply the stem of the adjective, which would be ‘αφρωνος’ for the nominative singular? Or am I mixing modern and classical Greek?
Character Map.
a “without” and phren (with an eta) “mind, sense, judgement.”
I don’t know Modern Greek but aphron just declines as is (aphron, aphrou, etc.) I think phren declines as feminine, though (phren, phrene).
Pledge?
Stupid: ηλίθιος (eta, lambda, iota, theta, iota, omicron, sigma)
or βλάκας (beta, lambda, alpha, kappa, alpha, sigma)
Luddite: λουδιστής
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I didn’t know λουδιστής was a term used in Greek. But I googled the term and found discussions in Greek using it in the sense of Luddite, so I guess people do use it.
I dunno… it’s Greek to me!
:: D&R ::
In ancient Greek, it’s aphrwn, aphronos (gen.).
Nice.
Kevbo, excellent question.
No, the situation is that I use Greek letters in mathematical physics and have a special need to represent what I think is a stupidly defined parameter.
Folks, I now have a variety of excellent tools in my box - thanks!