Sybarite

Use this forum to discuss past Good Words.
User avatar
Dr. Goodword
Site Admin
Posts: 7417
Joined: Wed Feb 02, 2005 9:28 am
Location: Lewisburg, PA
Contact:

Sybarite

Postby Dr. Goodword » Fri Aug 01, 2014 11:25 pm

• sybarite •

Pronunciation: si-bê-rait • Hear it!

Part of Speech: Noun

Meaning: 1. Someone who wallows in luxury. 2. A voluptuary with no ambition beyond self-indulgence.

Notes: The noun for this lifestyle is sybaritism, which implies an adjective, sybaritic, and an adverb, sybaritically. Thackeray left us with this description of sybarites dining in 1887, "It was a Sybaritic repast, in a magnificent apartment, and we were all of us young voluptuaries of fashion."

In Play: Perhaps the epitome of sybaritic pleasures emerges in Fellini's classic film La Dolce Vita, or the activities in the Playboy mansion in Chicago: complete hedonism with an unlimited bank account. However, it is not limited to these two instances: "Only a few of the sybarites heading US corporations at the end of the last century have paid any penalty for financing their sybaritism with company funds."

Word History: Today's Good Word is an eponym of Sybaris, a city of Magna Graecia "Great Greece", located in southern Italy on the Gulf of Taranto. It was founded in 720 BC by settlers from the Greek Peloponnesus mainly from the city of Argolis, and grew to be very prosperous. It was known for its luxurious hedonistic life style until it was destroyed by neighboring Crotona in 510 BC. (Our gratitude today is owed Donald Merino and D. V. Klisanic of Holland, whom we can only wish a life of sybaritic pleasure.)
• The Good Dr. Goodword

User avatar
Slava
Great Grand Panjandrum
Posts: 8040
Joined: Thu Sep 28, 2006 9:31 am
Location: Finger Lakes, NY

Re: Sybarite

Postby Slava » Thu Dec 25, 2014 5:14 pm

If I understand correctly, all sybarites are hedonists, but not all hedonists are sybarites. The latter may not have the financial wherewithal to make the grade.
Life is like playing chess with chessmen who each have thoughts and feelings and motives of their own.

Perry Lassiter
Great Grand Panjandrum
Posts: 3333
Joined: Wed Jan 03, 2007 12:41 pm
Location: RUSTON, LA
Contact:

Re: Sybarite

Postby Perry Lassiter » Thu Dec 25, 2014 11:31 pm

Hedonism indeed comes in various forms. Some even have ascending values of pleaures with sensual pleasures low on the list.
pl


Return to “Good Word Discussion”

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 43 guests