Hubris is a word that has gotten a lot of use in the last two weeks and whenever that happens, its worth taking a look at the meanings of the word.
Hubris is fun because it is a purely Greek word that hasn’t been morphologically changed since the days of Sophocles (4th Century B. C.). What has changed is its meaning. Today we mean simply “Overbearing pride or presumption; arrogance.” Back in the day, however, hubris had some of the following meanings (from Liddel & Scott): wantonness, wanton violence, insolence; an outrage upon a person, violation; outrageous acts; and even the legal classification of the most grievous assaults and offenses done to a person.
So what can we say? Well, on thing we can say is that hubris has mellowed over time, from being the Greek equivalent of “High Crimes and Misdemeanors” to a personality trait attached to incompetent bureaucrats.
Another thing we might be inclined to say is that we have lost a powerful, succinct word for so many different shortcomings of those to whom we have given so much power. Instead of being able so simply say “hubris”, we must now string together five or six different words, some originating in Latin, some from Middle-English, some from French. What a drag.