deipno-, deipn-

A reference to dining and diplomacy.

An abnormal aversion of dining with other people and having conversations while eating: Toby, who was afflicted with deipnophobia, usually enjoyed his meal in silence and alone and, when he was with others at the table, he would usually request that they not talk while chewing their food.

A person who has deipnophobia may suffer from any of a number of related fears, such as someone choking or talking with their mouths full and looking ridiculous while they are opening their mouths to talk before swallowing what they are chewing.

Someone who is a specialist in the art of dining and who is an adept conversationalist at the dinner table: The term deipnosophist comes from the title of the Greek work of Atheneus, in which a number of learned men are represented as dining together and discussing subjects that range from the dishes in front of them to literary criticism and miscellaneous topics of various descriptions.