Ideas across traditions · consciousness · Arabic

intellect

A common word: it appears in 39% of all works on the maps, so its reach across traditions is a fact about English, not about the idea. The works are listed for completeness; the analogues below are the judged connections.

Also under: “intellectus” · “verstand” · “nous” · “entendement” · “عقل” · “aql” · “νοῦς” · “nus” · “νοῦν” · “noos” · “νοῦ”

374works in other traditions, with a cited page
34works in Arabic, its home tradition on the maps
440further works where only a vocabulary list or keyword names it; not shown
1judged analogues in other traditions (a different word for a neighbouring idea)

Analogues, judged

A different word, in another tradition, that a reviewer judged to name a neighbouring idea. These are not attestations of intellect; each carries the reviewer’s confidence and reason.

  • mind Buddhist72%Latin mens glossed 'the highest intellectual faculty'/'Mind/Intellect' — used interchangeably with intellectus

In other traditions

Ordered by the earliest work in each tradition that attests the concept. Within a tradition, works run from earliest to latest by conventional composition date.

Zoroastrianfrom 1000 BCE · 2 works

Greekfrom 750 BCE · 33 works

and 28 more works in Greek; a common word, so the full list is not shown.

Indianfrom 700 BCE · 21 works

and 16 more works in Indian; a common word, so the full list is not shown.

Chinesefrom 600 BCE · 2 works

Hebrew & Jewishfrom 500 BCE · 13 works

and 8 more works in Hebrew & Jewish; a common word, so the full list is not shown.

Hellenistic & Late Antiquefrom 350 BCE · 68 works

and 63 more works in Hellenistic & Late Antique; a common word, so the full list is not shown.

Romanfrom 55 BCE · 18 works

and 13 more works in Roman; a common word, so the full list is not shown.

Early Christian & Monasticfrom 90 CE · 20 works

and 15 more works in Early Christian & Monastic; a common word, so the full list is not shown.

Hermetic & Gnosticfrom 150 CE · 20 works

and 15 more works in Hermetic & Gnostic; a common word, so the full list is not shown.

Byzantine & Orthodoxfrom 379 CE · 13 works

and 8 more works in Byzantine & Orthodox; a common word, so the full list is not shown.

Kabbalistic & Hasidicfrom 400 CE · 4 works

Syriac & Armenianfrom 445 CE · 9 works

and 4 more works in Syriac & Armenian; a common word, so the full list is not shown.

Medieval Latinfrom 867 CE · 45 works

and 40 more works in Medieval Latin; a common word, so the full list is not shown.

Buddhistfrom 900 CE · 1 work

Tibetanfrom 1100 · 2 works

Persianfrom 1186 · 11 works

and 6 more works in Persian; a common word, so the full list is not shown.

Renaissance & Early Modern Europefrom 1476 · 46 works

and 41 more works in Renaissance & Early Modern Europe; a common word, so the full list is not shown.

Theosophical & Modern Esotericfrom 1540 · 12 works

and 7 more works in Theosophical & Modern Esoteric; a common word, so the full list is not shown.

Turkicfrom 1564 · 1 work

Modern Europeanfrom 1660 · 30 works

and 25 more works in Modern European; a common word, so the full list is not shown.

Norse & Celticfrom 1835 · 1 work

Native American & Mesoamericanfrom 1868 · 1 work

Japanesefrom 1927 · 1 work

At home in Arabic

and 26 more.

Evidence gate. A work is listed only where a translator marked the word as a term with a gloss, or kept the original word beside the English, on at least one page of a held edition. Vocabulary lists and keywords alone do not count: in a Greek vocabulary list ἡσυχία is the ordinary word for quiet. Up to 3 pages are shown per work, preferring those with a gloss. The vocabulary was built 2026-09-11; the graph on 2026-09-13.