The corpus record

σόφ-ισμα

sophisma · τό

acquired skill, method

Generated live from the audited corpus — every figure on this page is a database query, not prose from memory.

Where it lives

Accusation of Calumny 1 · 9.67/10k
Against Lacritus 2 · 5.6/10k
Prometheus Bound 3 · 5.1/10k
Against Callicles 1 · 4.77/10k
Frogs 3 · 3.29/10k
Phoenissae 3 · 3.11/10k
Bacchae 2 · 2.66/10k
Iphigenia in Tauris 2 · 2.41/10k
Hiero 1 · 1.68/10k
Against Macartatus 1 · 1.61/10k
Against Aristogeiton 1 1 · 1.49/10k
Hecuba 1 · 1.4/10k

Densest 12 of 26 attested works shown, by occurrences per 10,000 attested tokens.

What it meant

σόφ-ισμα · soph-isma — LSJ

acquired skill, method

acquired skill, method, in medicine, Hp. Loc.Hom. 41.

II clever device, ingenious contrivance, a trick

clever device, ingenious contrivance, Pi. O. 13.17 (pl.); σ. μηχανᾶσθαι Hdt. 3.85; σ. καὶ μηχαναί ib. 152; ἀριθμὸν ἔξοχον σοφισμάτων A. Pr. 459; οὐκ ἔχω σ. ὅτῳ . . πημονῆς ἀπαλλαγῶ ib. 470; μὴ . . κἀκχέω τὸ πᾶν σ. S. Ph. 14; τὸ Θεσσαλὸν σ. a trick in fighting, v. Θεσσαλός; πολλαῖσι μορφαῖς οἱ θεοὶ σοφισμάτων σφάλλουσιν ἡμᾶς E. Fr. 972; τέχναι . . καὶ σ. Ar. Pl. 160; τὸ γὰρ σ. δημοτικόν Id. Nu. 205; πρὸς μὲν Σωκράτη . . τὸ σ. μοι οὐδέν Pl. Smp. 214a; τὸ σ. τὸ τοῦ δρεπάνου Id. La. 183d.

2 sly trick, artifice, stage-trick, claptrap, tricks

in less good sense, sly trick, artifice, δίκην δοῦναι σ. κακῶν E. Ba. 489, cf. Hec. 258; ἐφʼ ἡμᾶς ταὐτὰ παρόντα σ. Th. 6.77, cf. D. 35.2; stage-trick, claptrap, Ar. Ra. 17, 872, 1104; of tricks in government, Arist. Pol. 1297a35, 1308a2; in cookery, X. Hier. 1.23 (pl.).

3 captious argument, quibble, sophism

captious argument, quibble, sophism, Pl. R. 496a, D. 25.18, Epicur. Nat. 28.9, etc.; περὶ σοφισμάτων, title of work by Chrysippus; σ. τῆς ῥητορικῆς Longin. 17.2; opp. a true logical argument (φιλοσόφημα, ἐπιχείρημα), Arist. Top. 162a16:— Ar. calls a person σόφισμʼ ὅλον, Av. 431, cf. Ath. 1.11b.

In the wild

σοφίσματι · sophismati Aeschylus, Prometheus Bound 1011
σοφισμάτων · sophismatōn Aeschylus, Prometheus Bound 459–461
σόφισμʼ · sophismʼ Aeschylus, Prometheus Bound 469–471
σόφισμα · sophisma Aristophanes, Birds 430 (DIORISIS sentence 371)
σόφισμα · sophisma Aristophanes, Clouds 205 (DIORISIS sentence 178)
σοφισμάτων · sophismatōn Aristophanes, Frogs 1104

6 of 49 attestations shown. Ask for more.

Where it came from

No etymology authority pointer is recorded for this lemma yet — an honest gap, not an omission. The etymological dictionaries (Beekes, Chantraine, Frisk) are matched incrementally.

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