Talk:exoteric

Where does this word come from? Who uses it? I take it it's not a misspelling of "esoteric" but the Italian translator seems to think it was. What is it's relationship to "esoteric"? Antonym? Something else? Hippietrail 23:50, 15 Mar 2004 (UTC)

I'd never heard the word before, but m-w.com has it listed. It appears to be an antonym of esoteric. Ortonmc 00:06, 16 Mar 2004 (UTC)

Also apparently the Italian is not in error, as words in exo- appear to show up in Italian as eso- (cf. esonerare "exonerate", esorbitante "exorbitant", esotico "exotic"). Both eso and exo are from Greek (εσο- "within" εξο- "outside"), not sure what .it would do with a word in εσο- though. —Muke Tever 08:33, 16 Mar 2004 (UTC)

Hmm that's all well and good but Babelfish for one translates "esoteric" into "esoterico" in Italian, which means that "esoterico" is its own antonym in Italian. Which doesn't seem likely. Hippietrail 09:03, 16 Mar 2004 (UTC)

Well, words can be their own antonyms (cleave, frex) but more likely the equivalent of "exoteric" is as little-used in Italian as it is in English. —Muke Tever 16:36, 16 Mar 2004 (UTC)