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deipnosophist

PRONUNCIATION:

(daip-NOS-uh-fist) 

MEANING:

noun: One skilled at dinner-table conversation.

ETYMOLOGY:

After Deipnosophistae (The Deipnosophists), a work from around 200 CE by the Greek writer Athenaeus. From Greek deipnon (meal, dinner) + sophistes (wise man, sophist). Earliest documented use: 1581.

NOTES:

In his 15-book work Deipnosophistae, Athenaeus depicts learned men dining and discussing everything from food and its preparation to literary criticism, music, luxury, grammar, and more. The word deipnosophist has traveled from its earlier sense of a master of dining to its modern sense: someone skilled in dinner-table conversation.

In short, a deipnosophist is the person who can pass the potatoes, quote Pindar, rescue a dying conversation and turn it into a sparkling one, all without using the salad fork as a pointer.

USAGE:

“In mimicking a deipnosophist, we can learn how to transition topics to make our chaotic conversations meaningful.”
Pat Connell; Embracing Your Inner Deipnosophist; The Heights (Boston College); Apr 2, 2023.

See more usage examples of deipnosophist in Vocabulary.com’s dictionary.