atticism
\AT-uh-siz-uhm\
noun
1. concise and elegant expression, diction, or the like.
2. the style or idiom of Attic Greek occurring in another dialect or language.
Quotes
…and it is distinct to me that the purity was challenged by a friend of the house, and without -- pathetically enough! -- provoking the only answer, the plea that the missing Atticism would have been wasted on young barbarians.
-- Henry James, A Small Boy and Others, 1913
Origin
Atticism comes from the Greek word Attikismós which means "a siding with Athens" or "an Attic expression." Since Attic was the language of the Greek capital Athens, it also came to be associated with fine speech.
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