Today at a conference we were told that arête means "integrating virtues to excellence." I wanted to understand that concept better so I looked it up, and the dictionaries only had this definition: "A sharp, narrow mountain ridge or spur."

Have you heard of the virtues to excellence definition? Is it related to reaching up (the mountain ridge) to excellence? If so, that is way too subtle for me!

It's the classical Greek word usually translated as virtue, I think. See Kitto's The Greeks

I've only ever heard it used in the 'mountain ridge' sense.

The Greek for virtue is arêtê, transliterating eta as ê, though it's more usually transliterated with e-macron, a sign I don't think I can do here.

Therefore by coincidence it resembles the unrelated French word.

To see the range of Greek meanings, use Perseus. (As is usual in the mornings, it's misbehaving, so I can't enter "are^te^" and go to the actual page.) But that'll show a complete representative sample of the way the word was used in Greek.

I've only ever heard of arete meaning virtue. I was exposed to it in Philosophy 100 and have heard it a couple of times since then.

Of course, I was raised in Chicago, where the mountain is a mythical concept. In all my reading, I've never experienced the mountain sense though.

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Therefore by coincidence it resembles the unrelated French word

.

The unrelated French word, meaning "stop," is the only one with which I was familiar, so Kalleh really threw me for a loop when she said it meant something totally different!

Ignorant Asa on Sunflower's computer

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Of course, I was raised in Chicago, where the mountain is a mythical concept.

Well, Sean, you completely missed Mt. Trashmore in Winnetka then.

Interesting discussion. Obviously the speaker had meant the Greek meaning. This was a brilliant speaker whom I truly admire, and I had hoped he wasn't wrong. He has always had a penchant for using Greek words.

So, Asa and Sunflower, how is the move going?

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Originally posted by Kalleh: Have you heard of the virtues to excellence definition? Is it related to reaching up (the mountain ridge) to excellence?

OED gives only the latter definition, saying "A sharp ascending ridge or ‘edge’ of a mountain."

According to OED, the Latin for 'ear of corn, fish-bone or spine' led to the French term for 'ridge, sharp edge'. In French Switzerland, the locals applied that french term to mountain ridges, and English-speaking mountain-climbers picked up that usage.

In other words, unrelated to the Greek word.

Obviously the Greek arete has no diacritic and the French arête has a circumflex -- and anyway the two are pronounced differently. The English literary magazine Areté (http://www.aretemagazine.com/) took its name from the Greek, while geographers appropriated arête straight from the French.

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the Greek arete has no diacritic

Well, there is an accent over the eta, which when transcribed could be represented as a Latin e with macron and accute accent. Also, I see the first e as an epsilon, aput. Arētē with two etas is the name of a queen in the Odyssey (vii.54). The circumflex in the French arête indicates an earlier s that was dropped.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: zmježd,

Epsilon: that's what comes of not being able to get onto Perseus to check.