Politics & SocietyGreek → English
Philanthropy
/fɪˈlænθrəpi/noun
Giving money or effort for the general good of other people.
The Greek roots
φίλος
phílos
loving, dear
ἄνθρωπος
ánthrōpos
human being
Literally: “love of humankind”
The story of the word
In Greek the word named a quality of character rather than an activity: the kindliness a king or a god shows towards people below them. Aeschylus calls Prometheus φιλάνθρωπος for stealing fire on their behalf, and it costs him his liver daily. The narrowing to organised money-giving happened in English from the 17th century onwards.
- How it travelled
- Ancient Greek → Late Latin → English
- First recorded
- 17th century
The same roots elsewhere
Other languages reached for exactly the same Greek pieces.
Same family
anthropologymisanthropephilosophyphilology
In a sentence
The wing is named after a century of family philanthropy, most of it anonymous at the time.