I encountered the word kalopsia (the state in which things appear more beautiful than they really are) on a website of arcane words (http://www.islandnet.com/~egbird/dict/dict.htm). I have looked for it in other dictionaries, but can't find it. Does anyone have any idea what a contextual usage of this word would be? Adjective or adverb forms? does one suffer from kalopsia, falls into kalopsia, or feels kalopsia. can one be kaloptic?

What an interesting word! I imagine one might experience kalopsia when falling in love, and perhaps also during the period just following meditation. Everything often seems much brighter in color and more clearly defined after meditating for some time. And we all know how infatuation affects our senses, so that kalopsia is rampant in all perceptions of the beloved one.

Indeed, "kaplosia" is a noun. Today it is used to refer to artists who think they work is "art" when reality it isn't. At an art show one could say about a particular artist upon looking at their work that they suffer from kalopsia.

OneLook yields four hits (link). I found it in the brick and mortar Mrs Byrne's dictionary, but who knows where she found it. Maybe Ron O. knows ... I checked b&m LSJ, which only yielded the rare καλωπος (kalōpos) 'having beautiful eyes'.

entry in wwftd predates my doing actual etymological research, but here goes: /kuh LAHP see uh/ [fr. Gk kalos, beautiful < kallos, beauty + opsis, sight] related to kalopoios, making beautiful


(all Greek roots verified by Liddell, Scott)

I fear that usage is limited to medical use; i.e., it's yet another delusion. and writers such as Alexander Theroux.

-tsuwm

usage is limited to medical use

Do you have a reference in a medical dictionary?

all Greek roots verified by Liddell, Scott

I recognized the roots, I was just saying that the word is not classical in origin.

>Do you have a reference in a medical dictionary?

it's supposedly in Dorland (1947), although I don't have access.

I did find this recent usage, from The Times, Apr 24, 2006

China can bring on serious bouts of kalopsia in otherwise intelligent observers, but this visit [sc. Hu's] was significant because it was mundane.


which, incidentally, generated the following response:

Finally Barry Hyman sends a demand from Hertfordshire: "Now just stop it! After 40 years of reading The Times (with only a small break during your strike) I've become used, bowing to your intellectual superiority, to having my Chambers Dictionary alongside for the occasional odd word you use that I do not know. But 'kalopsia', for heaven's sake (leading article, Monday)? Even Chambers didn't have that. Googling brings up a site called 'Worthless word for today' which tells me that it means 'the delusion that things are more beautiful than they really are'.

Enough already, unless there is a word for 'the determination to humiliate one's dedicated readers'." There is, Mr Hyman, and we use it daily in the office, chuckling all the while. Anyway, I wager that from now on you'll be using kalopsia yourself - although you've made us reach for our dictionaries again, just to make sure.

{man, I got a mention in The Times, and they got it wrong!}

I got a mention in The Times, and they got it wrong!

Congratulations. Your fifteen minutes starts now; enjoy!

yeahbut, that was two years ago.

-joe bfstplk

two years ago

What's a tenth of a score amongst lexicographers? ...

>What's a tenth of a score amongst lexicographers?

plenty, when you're an old lexicographer.

-joe (olde) friday

Other countries suffering from official collective kalopsia include North Korea and Burma. President Bush also seems to suffer from the problem when looking at reports from Iraq. But his case is nowhere near as severe as that of Robert Mugabe.

zmjezhd is right about it not being a classical word but a modern coining from Greek roots. If an ancient Greek did use the term at all, as he points out, it would refer to the appearance of the eyes themselves, not to what is perceived through them.

plenty, when you're an old lexicographer.

Your fifteen minutes of fame are still worth congratulations and
treating us all on strawberry sherbert.

...or sherbet

am i indulging in kalopsia when i wear my eye glasses with rose tinted lenses? they really do make things (weeds for example) look prettier..

I like that!

No that's called dyslexia isn't it?

Hey, Helen? It's nice to see you posting again.

I suggest just enjoying it. If you are going to have de-/il-lusions kalopsia would be one of the better ones. Definitely beats pink snakes or "I can fly" wouldn't you think?

Lookin' Better Every Beer

Actually, it is a classical word, meaning 'with beautiful eyes'. opos is in the genitive, so that's where the meaning comes from. I'd assume that the contemporary meaning is one of 'looking at things through eyes that are preprogrammed to see things as beautiful'. I guess a more coherent definition would be perceiving more beauty in something than there actually is.

http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0057%3Aentry%3D%2352907 (the site can take a long time to load.)

Beauty is definitely in the eye of the beholder

Actually, it is a classical word, meaning 'with beautiful eyes'. opos is in the genitive, so that's where the meaning comes from.

Actually, I think whoever coined the term was unaware of the word you linked to in LSJ. (The entry is short with no citations.) I think the neologist simply took the Greek roots for beautiful and eye and the ending -ia and ran with it.