# διάνοια
## Ancient Greek
### Alternative forms

* δῐᾰνοιĭ̈́ᾱ (dĭănoiĭ̈́ā) — Aeolic
* δῐᾰνοίᾱ (dĭănoíā) — poetic

### Etymology

δια- (dia-, “across, through”) +‎ νόος (nóos, “mind”) +‎ -ια (-ia, abstract noun forming suffix). Compare διανοέομαι (dianoéomai).

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /di.á.noi̯.a/ → /ðiˈa.ny.a/ → /ðiˈa.ni.a/
* (5th BCE Attic) IPA: /di.á.noi̯.a/
* (1st CE Egyptian) IPA: /diˈa.ny.a/
* (4th CE Koine) IPA: /ðiˈa.ny.a/
* (10th CE Byzantine) IPA: /ðiˈa.ny.a/
* (15th CE Constantinopolitan) IPA: /ðiˈa.ni.a/

### Noun

δῐᾰ́νοιᾰ • (dĭắnoiă) f (genitive δῐᾰνοίᾱς); first declension (Attic, Ionic, Koine)
* intention, purpose
    Synonym: πρόθεσις (próthesis)
** 460 BCE – 420 BCE, Herodotus, Histories 1.46.2:μετὰ ὦν τὴν διάνοιαν ταύτην αὐτίκα ἀπεπειρᾶτο τῶν μαντείων τῶν τε ἐν Ἕλλησι καὶ τοῦ ἐν Λιβύῃ, διαπέμψας ἄλλους ἄλλῃ, τοὺς μὲν ἐς Δελφοὺς ἰέναι, τοὺς δὲ ἐς Ἄβας τὰς Φωκέων, τοὺς δὲ ἐς Δωδώνηνmetà ôn tḕn diánoian taútēn autíka apepeirâto tôn manteíōn tôn te en Héllēsi kaì toû en Libúēi, diapémpsas állous állēi, toùs mèn es Delphoùs iénai, toùs dè es Ábas tàs Phōkéōn, toùs dè es Dōdṓnēn
** 175 CE, Marcus Aurelius Antoninus, Meditations 5.20:Καθ̓ ἕτερον μὲν λόγον ἡμῖν ἐστιν οἰκειότατον ἄνθρωπος, καθ̓ ὅσον εὖ ποιητέον αὐτοὺς καὶ ἀνεκτέον: καθ̓ ὅσον δὲ ἐνίστανταί τινες εἰς τὰ οἰκεῖα ἔργα, ἕν τι τῶν ἀδιαφόρων μοι γίνεται ὁ ἄνθρωπος οὐχ ἧσσον ἢ ἥλιος ἢ ἄνεμος ἢ θηρίον. ὑπὸ τούτων δὲ ἐνέργεια μέν τις ἐμποδισθείη ἄν, ὁρμῆς δὲ καὶ διαθέσεως οὐ γίνεται ἐμπόδια διὰ τὴν ὑπεξαίρεσιν καὶ τὴν περιτροπήν. περιτρέπει γὰρ καὶ μεθίστησι πᾶν τὸ τῆς ἐνεργείας κώλυμα ἡ διάνοια εἰς τὸ προηγούμενον καὶ πρὸ ἔργου γίνεται τὸ τοῦ ἔργου τούτου ἐφεκτικὸν καὶ πρὸ ὁδοῦ τὸ τῆς ὁδοῦ ταύτης ἐνστατικόν.Kath héteron mèn lógon hēmîn estin oikeiótaton ánthrōpos, kath hóson eû poiētéon autoùs kaì anektéon: kath hóson dè enístantaí tines eis tà oikeîa érga, hén ti tôn adiaphórōn moi gínetai ho ánthrōpos oukh hêsson ḕ hḗlios ḕ ánemos ḕ thēríon. hupò toútōn dè enérgeia mén tis empodistheíē án, hormês dè kaì diathéseōs ou gínetai empódia dià tḕn hupexaíresin kaì tḕn peritropḗn. peritrépei gàr kaì methístēsi pân tò tês energeías kṓluma hē diánoia eis tò proēgoúmenon kaì prò érgou gínetai tò toû érgou toútou ephektikòn kaì prò hodoû tò tês hodoû taútēs enstatikón.From one perspective, man is my proper consideration, inasmuch as I must treat well with and endure him. However, so far as some men make of themselves obstacles to my proper actions, man becomes to me an immaterial thing...no less than the sun or wind or a wild animal. Now it is true that such men may impede my action, but they are no impediments to (my) intention and disposition, which have the power of acting conditionally and changing, for the mind converts and changes every hindrance to its activity into an aid; and so that which is a hindrance is made a furtherance to an act, and that which is an obstacle in the way helps me on the way.
* process of thinking
** 360 BCE, Plato, The Sophist 263e:οὐκοῦν διάνοια μὲν καὶ λόγος ταὐτόν: πλὴν ὁ μὲν ἐντὸς τῆς ψυχῆς πρὸς αὑτὴν διάλογος ἄνευ φωνῆς γιγνόμενος τοῦτ’ αὐτὸ ἡμῖν ἐπωνομάσθη, διάνοια;oukoûn diánoia mèn kaì lógos tautón: plḕn ho mèn entòs tês psukhês pròs hautḕn diálogos áneu phōnês gignómenos toût’ autò hēmîn epōnomásthē, diánoia?
* capacity of thought: intelligence, understanding
** 380 BCE, Plato, The Republic 511d:διάνοιαν δὲ καλεῖν μοι δοκεῖς τὴν τῶν γεωμετρικῶν τε καὶ τὴν τῶν τοιούτων ἕξιν ἀλλ’ οὐ νοῦν, ὡς μεταξύ τι δόξης τε καὶ νοῦ τὴν διάνοιαν οὖσαν.diánoian dè kaleîn moi dokeîs tḕn tôn geōmetrikôn te kaì tḕn tôn toioútōn héxin all’ ou noûn, hōs metaxú ti dóxēs te kaì noû tḕn diánoian oûsan.You seem to call the habit of geometers and others like them understanding and not reason, as understanding is something intermediate between reason and opinion.

#### Descendants

* Greek: διάνοια (diánoia)

### Further reading

* “διάνοια”, in Liddell & Scott (1889) An Intermediate Greek–English Lexicon, New York: Harper & Brothers
* διάνοια in Bailly, Anatole (1935) Le Grand Bailly: Dictionnaire grec-français, Paris: Hachette
* διάνοια in the Diccionario Griego–Español en línea (2006–2025)
* Woodhouse, S. C. (1910) English–Greek Dictionary: A Vocabulary of the Attic Language‎, London: Routledge & Kegan Paul Limited. bearing idem, page 67.comprehension idem, page 153.design idem, page 215.determination idem, page 219.drift idem, page 252.fancy idem, page 306.force idem, page 335.idea idem, page 413.imagination idem, page 416.import idem, page 422.intelligence idem, page 448.intention idem, page 449.meaning idem, page 520.mind idem, page 530.notion idem, page 562.plan idem, page 617.point idem, page 623.purport idem, page 659.purpose idem, page 659.resolve idem, page 702.scheme idem, page 739.sense idem, page 752.significance idem, page 775.spirit idem, page 802.tenor idem, page 862.thought idem, page 868.understanding idem, page 913.will idem, page 979.wit idem, page 983.
* διάνοια, in ΛΟΓΕΙΟΝ [Logeion] Dictionaries for Ancient Greek and Latin (in English, French, Spanish, German, Dutch and Chinese), University of Chicago, since 2011