Etymo

philosophy

Inquiry into knowledge, existence, value, and reasoning.

Played on · Day 19 · word 1 of 5

Love of wisdom.

How philosophy reached English

oldest first

Simplified path. The puzzle showed the main steps; the full route is being checked.

Greek

  • phil-‘loving’
  • sophia‘wisdom’

combined

  1. English

    philosophy

    ‘Inquiry into knowledge, existence, value, and reasoning.’

The story of philosophy

Philosophy reaches English through French and Latin from the Greek family of philosophos. Its components express affection for wisdom. The word describes an orientation toward understanding, rather than a claim that its bearer already knows everything.

This view explains the components. They are pieces of one construction, not consecutive borrowing stages.

Sources

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