The word encyclopedia comes from the Koine Greek ἐγκύκλιος παιδεία, transliterated enkyklios paideia, meaning "general education" from enkyklios(ἐγκύκλιος), meaning "circular, recurrent, required regularly, general and paideia (παιδεία), meaning "education, rearing of a child" it was reduced to a single word due to an error by copyists of Latin manuscripts. Together, the phrase literally translates as "complete instruction" or "complete knowledge". (Source Wikipedia)
. . . first published in France between 1751 and 1765 and best known as the “Encyclopedie,’ which endeavored to summarize all human knowledge in its 18,000 pages of text, 75,000 different entries, and 20 million words. Its primary editor, Denis Diderot, was one of the heroes of the Enlightenment and indeed the ‘Encyclopedie’ reprsents a culmination of Enlightenment thought which valued reason, science and progress what we know -- above all else . . . Page 5 “HOMO MYSTERIOUS” Author David P. Barash, Phd