Eunoia

[A. Maberry]

On Fri, 4 Jan 2002, Paul McFedries wrote:

> The back-cover copy claims not only that "eunoia" means "beautiful
> thinking," but that it's the shortest word that uses all five vowels.
> However, I can't find it anywhere, even in the OED. Is it a real word?

It's a legitimate Greek word per Liddell-Scott's Greek English lexicon,
but it means: "I. good will, favour, kindness, deeds of kindness. II. gift or
present in token of good will" not "beautiful thinking". In what is
probably a *very* gross simplification, I think Gk. "eu" = "good"; Gk.
"kallos/a/on" = "beautiful". I don't find any reference to *kallinoia in
the older Liddell and Scott.

allen
maberry at u.washington.edu