litterati

English

Etymology

From Latin litterātī.

Noun

litterati pl (plural only)

1. Uncommon form of literati.
   • 1656, Trajano Boc[c]alini, translated by Henry [Carey, 2nd] Earl of Monmouth, “The XXXV. Advertisement. Publick Audience is given by Apollo, wherein by wise Answers, he decides many Affairs of his Vertuosi.”, in I Ragguagli di Parnasso: or Advertisements from Parnassus; […], London: […] Humphrey Moseley, […] and Thomas Heath […], →OCLC, page 71:

     To theſe Apollo anſwered, That the onely means whereby to make the way to the Liberal Arts eaſie, was the fervent love of learning, the taking delight in reading the fruitful labours of his Litterati, and to ſtudy out of pleaſure; […]

   • 1775 April 25, Horace Walpole, “1616. To the Rev. William Cole.”, in Mrs. Paget Toynbee [i.e., Helen Toynbee], editor, The Letters of Horace Walpole, Fourth Earl of Orford […], volume IX (1774–1776), Oxford: At the Clarendon Press, published 1904, →OCLC, page 190:

     Pray do not betray my ignorance: the reviewers and such litterati have called me a learned and ingenious gentleman.

   • 1954 [1929], Ezra Pound, “How to Read”, in T[homas] S[tearns] Eliot, editor, Literary Essays of Ezra Pound, New York, N.Y.: New Directions Publishing Corporation, published 1968, →LCCN, part 1 (The Art of Poetry), section IV, page 21:

     Save in the rare and limited instances of invention in the plastic arts, or in mathematics, the individual cannot think and communicate his thought, the governor and legislator cannot act effectively or frame his laws, without words, and the solidity and validity of these words is in the care of the damned and despised litterati.

     Originally literati.

   • 2012, Nile Green, “Origins, Foundations and Rivalries (850–1100)”, in Sufism: A Global History, Chichester, West Sussex: Wiley-Blackwell, →ISBN, page 32:

     Their critique of the zuhhad ascetics whose showy and at times gruesome austerities certainly did win popular support suggests that if anything the likes of Kharraz and Muhasibi beforehand represented a distinctly anti-popularist circle of urbane litterati who sought dignity in mastering their books rather than their bodies.

Latin

Adjective

litterātī

1. inflection of litterātus:
   1. nominative/vocative masculine plural
   2. genitive masculine/neuter singular