The word
fee-LOT-ee-mo
A word that is often called untranslatable. What does it ask of us?
What is inside the word?
Two Greek words: φίλος, “loving” or “friend”, and τιμή, “honour”. Together, literally, “love of honour”.1
Ancient dictionaries record two sides of it. The adjective philotimos could mean ambitious and eager for distinction, mostly in a bad sense. It could also mean generous.2
How do people describe it?
Modern Greek dictionaries describe a strong sense of honour and personal dignity, and the willingness to do one’s duty with care.3
When BBC Travel asked people what it means to them, the answers differed. Two of them: “Doing the right thing”, and “Stepping out from your comfort zone to help someone in need”.4
Why does it resist translation?
“Love of honour” is the usual rendering. BBC Travel calls it “a utilitarian yet insufficient attempt” to convey the virtues packed into the word.4
The Standard Modern Greek dictionary even uses, as one of its example sentences, that the word has no exact translation in other languages.3
How do we use it?
For us, philotimo is a question more than a definition. In the words of Sotiris Makrygiannis, it “encompasses honor, dignity, generosity, responsibility, and the willingness to do the right thing without necessarily expecting anything in return.”
That is the spirit we try to bring to our research on keeping young people safer online, and to the art we help share.
What would you do if nobody was watching?
When did you last do the right thing without anyone knowing?
Sources. (1) Wiktionary, φιλότιμος. (2) Liddell–Scott–Jones Greek–English Lexicon, φιλότιμος. (3) Dictionary of Standard Modern Greek (Triantafyllides), φιλότιμο. (4) Stav Dimitropoulos, “The Greek word that can’t be translated”, BBC Travel.