I am looking for a word that means "late bloomer" and I believe is of Greek, not Latin, origin, though I'm not sure of the etymology.
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1Do you want to say why it's Greek and what you will do with the word?– Yosef BaskinCommented Jul 11, 2017 at 18:00
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3Is neoteny (the slowing or delaying of body development) the relevant characteristic here?– FumbleFingersCommented Jul 11, 2017 at 18:02
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Updated my answer with info on the words appearance in antiquity.– DukeZhouCommented Jul 12, 2017 at 3:04
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1 Answer
I did a quick search for Greek words with this meaning and found:
from the Greek ὀψέ (opsé, “late”) and μανθάνω (manthánō, “I learn”), which, in the wiki, is linked to "late bloomer".
At first I thought this was a purely modern medical term, but I did find an entry in some Ancient Greek lexicons, and it appears in Lucian, Isocrates, Plato, Epicurus, Cicero, Xenophon, and Theophrastus.
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@eyeballfrog I was avoiding using the actual word, but I was going by the Oxford definition: Less advanced in mental, physical, or social development than is usual for one's age. (I realize I posed a link to the Merriam-Webster's definition, which has caused confusion. My bad: en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/retarded)– DukeZhouCommented Jul 12, 2017 at 2:37
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@DukeZhou It's just a word. And a late bloomer starts out behind, but catches up later. This is not the same as retarded, which describes someone who can't catch up. (Also, Oxford's definition seems inconsistent with common usage, which is exclusively about mental disability.) Commented Jul 12, 2017 at 6:06
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Thanks, all. Opsimath was the word I was searching for. I first heard it decades ago, maybe on Firing Line, from the sesquipedalian host.– DavidCommented Jul 12, 2017 at 15:35