pronoia

Meaning

Noun

• Divine providence, foreknowledge, foresight.
• An imperial grant to an individual of temporary fiscal rights in the form of land, incomes or taxes from land, fishing rights, etc., sometimes carrying with it an obligation of military service.
• A belief (sometimes regarded as irrational) that people conspire to do one good.

Origin

• Borrowed from Ancient Greek πρόνοιᾰ ("foreknowledge, foresight; providence; form of land grant"), from πρόνοος + -ῐᾰ. is derived from προ- + νόος. The English word is cognate with Latin pronoea ("providence").
• The plural form pronoiae is probably a modification of Latin pronoeae, while pronoiai is from Ancient Greek πρόνοιαι.
• pro- + paranoia, coined by American sociologist Fred H. Goldner in a paper presented at the annual meeting of the Society for the Study of Social Problems in August 1981. A version of this paper, entitled “Pronoia”, was published in the journal Social Problems in October 1982: see the quotation.