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- Word frequency information for βάναυσος from the Perseus Digital Library at the Classics Department of Tufts University
Banausos (Ancient Greek βάναυσος, plural βάναυσοι, banausoi) is a pejorative applied to the class of manual laborers or artisans in Ancient Greece. The related abstract noun βαναυσία – banausia is defined by Hesychius as "every craft (τέχνη) [conducted] by means of fire", reflecting the folk etymology of the word as coming from βαῦνος (baunos) "furnace" and αὔω (auō) "to dry".[1] The actual etymology of the words is unknown; they are not attested outside Attic-Ionic or before the 5th century BC.[1] The epic heroes call their smiths δημιουργοί – dēmiourgoi.
Banausos (or rather βαναυσικός – banausikos) has also been adapted into English, as the rare word banausic, both as a term of abuse, and to represent Greek usage. According to Dagobert D. Runes' Dictionary of Philosophy, it means "vulgar and illiberal", particularly when referring to arts or occupations that "deform the body or the mind."[2] Its use in English is not found before 1845,[citation needed] with the Victorian revival of classical learning.
One of the contributions of classical philology to the Kultur-movement in Wilhelmine and post-Wilhelmine Germany was the use of banausisch as an insult — along with the myths that the German Soul is essentially Greek, that the ancient Greeks were blond, and that the modern Greeks are not descended from them. Today in German Banause is used to mean an uncouth person indifferent to high culture, like English philistine.
Such ideas have been regularly challenged since World War II, but they were occasionally reflected in the English-speaking world of the time. For example, Edith Hamilton accepted them as the best scholarship of her school days. Again, a junior colleague of Sir Gilbert Murray permitted himself (in 1935) the following, which goes well beyond Greek usage:[3]