The article is an attempt to track down and sup up problems related to genre terminology in the wisdom literature. A comparison is made between Greek and Slavic titles of collections of wise sentences and apophthegms in order to shed light on their genre specifics. The titles emphasize the act of selection and compilation, as well as the instructive discourse within the general notion of the literature of wisdom. Unlike the Greek nominations, the Slavic models miss the refinement of the genre forms. This situation may be a consequence of the lack of cultivated practice for the use of genre names in Slavia Orthodoxa.