Eutrapelia
Ability of a person to have pleasant conversation
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Eutrapelia comes from the Greek for "wittiness" (Ancient Greek: εὐτραπελία, romanized: eutrapelia) and refers to pleasantness in conversation, with ease and a good sense of humor. It is one of Aristotle's virtues, being the "golden mean" between boorishness (ἀγροικία) and buffoonery (βωμολοχία).[1]
Construed narrowly, eutrapelia is associated with an emotion in the same manner modesty and righteousness are associated with emotion; while it is not tied to any particular emotion when construed in wider terms, and is classified with truthfulness, friendliness, and dignity in the category of mean-dispositions that cannot be called pathetikai mesotetes.[2]
In Ephesians 5:4, Paul the Apostle uses the word εὐτραπελία with a negative meaning, referring to dirty jokes which do not befit Christians.[3] John Chrysostom follows him in strongly criticizing inappropriate witticism, warning "that the greatest evils are both produced and increased by it, and that it oftentimes terminates in fornication".[4]
Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274), viewed eutrapelia in a positive light, again, favoring the ancient Aristotelian notion that it is constituted by mental relaxation and honorable fun.[5] In the Summa Theologica, Aquinas made it the virtue of moderation in relation to jesting.[5]
By the second half of thirteenth century, the concept was considered a state of judicious pleasure and returned to being considered a virtue by commentators.[6]
The term eutrapely is derived from eutrapelia and, since 1596, shares the original meaning of wittiness in conversations.[7]