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Cratylus

by Plato

Reading #37 ("Memorabilia III", 2026)


Abstract

Socrates, Hermogenes, and Cratylus discuss whether names—or even all words—have a natural basis or not, in a dialogue filled with etymological digression.

Bibliographic Data

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Kind Term
authors Plato
literary form dialogue
genres Socratic dialogue
subjects etymology, linguistics, philosophy, laws, logic, pre-history
period Classical Greece, 5th c. BCE, 4th c. BCE
language Ancient Greek, Attic Greek
same as wikidata | wikipedia
keywords & tags #fine-things-are-very-difficult
Index 79 entries

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Notes

383–384a A simple framing—told by Hermogenes—from where we begin: He and Cratylus have been having a discussion on the meaning of names, and the latter contends that a name belongs to each thing by nature.


385b–c Remark on charging for knowledge

if I’d attended Prodicus’ fifty-drachma lecture course […] I’ve heard only the one-drachma course, I don’t know the truth about it.


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