Timonist
English
Etymology
Timon + -ist, from the 5th-century BC person Timon of Athens (as described by Plutarch, Lucian, Aristophanes). Used by Robert Greene in his Greene's Mourning Garment (1590). (Shakespeare's play Timon of Athens is usually estimated c. 1607 and would not have influenced Greene; however, some consider the play could be one of Shakespeare's earliests, and could then have been Greene's source.)
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ˈtaɪmənɪst/
Noun
Timonist (plural Timonists)
- A sort of bitter misanthrope related to Timonism, like Timon of Athens.
- 1590, Robert Greene, Greene's Mourning Garment:[1]
- Yet was he not [...] such a Timonist, but hee would familiarly conuerse with his friends. [sic]
- 1601 (first performance), Thomas Dekker, Satiro-mastix. Or The Vntrussing of the Humorous Poet. […], London: […] [Edward Allde] for Edward White, […], published 1602, OCLC 837266771, signature L3, recto:
- I did it to retyre me from the vvorld; / And turne my Muſe into a Timoniſt, […]
- 1988, Paul Ollswang, "Cynicism":[2]
- Cynicism is often contrasted with "Timonism" (cf. Shakespeare's Timon of Athens). Cynics saw what people could be & were angered by what they had become; Timonists felt humans were hopelessly stupid & uncaring by nature & so saw no hope for change.
- 1590, Robert Greene, Greene's Mourning Garment:[1]
Translations
sort of bitter misanthrope
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Adjective
Timonist (comparative more Timonist, superlative most Timonist)
- Of a form of bitter misanthropy related to Timonism, like Timon of Athens.
- 1988, Maurice Charney, Hamlet's fictions:[3]
- Marston poses as the Timonist malcontent satirist ready to excoriate the world for its follies.
- 1988, Maurice Charney, Hamlet's fictions:[3]
Translations
Of a form of bitter misanthropy
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References
- OED, "Timon [feat. Timonian, Timonism, Timonist, Timonize]" in the Oxford English Dictionary (reproduced in a post)
- SEG, "Timonist" in Thomas Lewis Owen Davies (supplement to James Orchard Halliwell-Phillipps), A supplementary English glossary, 1881 (full text at Archive.org or p. 656 at Google Books)
- WN, "Timonist" in Wordnik
- Notes:
- See OED.
- Paul Ollswang, "Cynicism: A Series of Cartoons on a Philosophical Theme", January 1988, page at official site; repr. in The Best Comics of the Decade 1980-1990 Vol. 1, Seattle: Fantagraphics Books, 1990, →ISBN, p. 23.
- Maurice Charney, Hamlet's fictions, Routledge, 1988, →ISBN, p. 154 at Google Books.
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