banausic

English

WOTD – 18 January 2019

Etymology

From Ancient Greek βαναυσικός (banausikós, “of or for mechanics”), from βάναυσος (bánausos, “mechanical; ironsmith”) + -ῐκός (-ikós, suffix forming relational adjectives). βάναυσος is derived from βαύνος (baúnos, “forge, furnace”), a Pre-Greek word of unknown origin.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /bəˈnɔːsɪk/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• (General American) IPA^(key): /bəˈnɔzɪk/
• Hyphenation: ba‧naus‧ic

Adjective

banausic (comparative more banausic, superlative most banausic)

1. (formal) Of or pertaining to technical matters; mechanical. [from mid 19th c.]
   • 1860 November 24, “W.” [pseudonym], “Foreign Correspondence”, in The Athenæum: Journal of English and Foreign Literature, Science, and the Fine Arts, number 1726, London: […] James Holmes, […] published at the office, […] by John Francis. [...], →OCLC, page 712, column 2:

     The true "Gentleman," they [the ruling classes] assert, will far more easily acquire the technical knowledge necessary for an officer, a judge, or for the administration of some high post, than one who has been brought up in some banausic speciality, will be able to gain the general educational foundation essential for a good ruler.

   • 1951 September 13, T[homas] S[tearns] Eliot, “Virgil and the Christian World”, in The Listener, volume 46, London: British Broadcasting Corporation, →OCLC, page 412, column 2; republished in On Poetry and Poets, 1st Noonday paperbound edition, New York, N.Y.: The Noonday Press, a subsidiary of Farrar, Strauss & Giroux, 1961 (1969 printing), →OCLC, page 141:

     It was the Greeks who taught us the dignity of leisure; it is from them that we inherit the perception that the highest life is the life of contemplation. But this respect for leisure, with the Greeks, was accompanied by a contempt for the banausic occupations.

   • 1979, John Bowle, A History of Europe: A Cultural and Political Survey, London: Secker and Warburg; Heinemann, →ISBN, page 37:

     [T]he indifference or contempt which the ruling minorities felt towards "banausic" pursuits or technological gadgetry – an attitude rooted in the literary and oratorical bias of their education.

2. (formal) Uncultured, unrefined, utilitarian. [from mid 19th c.]

   Synonym: mundane

   • 1845 August, “Art. VII.—Etudes sur les Orateurs. Par Timon. Bruxelles. 1834.”, in The Oxford and Cambridge Review, volume I, London: William Pickering; Oxford: J. Vincent; Cambridge: J. T. Walters, →OCLC, page 206:

     After 1812, and when the worst portion of the Tories got enthroned in the supremacy, when the Banausic principle (we must coin a word from the most expressive of languages to express all its intense vulgarity) began to obtain, […] Lord Grey [Charles Grey, 2nd Earl Grey] did what might have been expected from so high a gentleman. […] He opposed but not incessantly, angrily, nor with constant faction, but in stately speeches and solemn protests.

   • 1957, Lawrence Durrell, “Part I”, in Justine, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: E[dward] P[ayson] Dutton & Co., published May 1960, →OCLC, page 76:

     [H]ow graceful and accurate a portrait of Alexandria he manages to convey; Alexandria and its women. […] One could not expect more from an intruder of gifts who almost by mistake pierced the hard banausic shell of Alexandria and discovered himself.

   • 2001, Rupert Woodfin, Judy Groves, illustrator, “Plato’s Condemnation of Art”, in Richard Appignanesi, editor, Introducing Aristotle (Introducing …), Thriplow, Cambridgeshire: Icon Books; [United States]: Totem Books, published 2002, →ISBN, page 152:

     Not only do poets and artists “tell lies”, not only is art a banausic bad habit, but, worse yet, it ignites desires and passions that prevent us from being the calm intellectual observers required of well-behaved citizens.

   • 2003, Roy Porter, Flesh in the Age of Reason, London: Penguin Books, →ISBN; republished London: Penguin Books, 2004, →ISBN, page 456:

     But how could man respect himself when he was always being brought down to earth by the most banausic things?

   • 2007, Philip Howard, “Modern Manners”, in The Times, London; republished in “How Not to Put Your Foot in It”, in Modern Manners: The Essential Guide to Correct Behaviour and Etiquette, London: The Robson Press, 2013, →ISBN:

     People, upon first meeting me, ask: ‘Do you rent or buy?’ I find this impertinent. […] You could fake philosophical unconcern, implying that such banausic matters are best left to your estate agent and factor: ‘I quite forget: my people look after such things.’

Translations

of or pertaining to technical matters

• French: banausique
• Hungarian: műszaki (hu), ^{(please verify)} szakmai (hu)
• Latin: banausicus

uncultured, unrefined, utilitarian

• French: banausique
• Hungarian: földhözragadt (hu), ^{(please verify)} közönséges (hu)
• Latin: banausicus

Further reading

• Douglas Harper (2001–2024) “banausic”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.
• “banausic”, in The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th edition, Boston, Mass.: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2016, →ISBN.