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Origin and history of philosopher

philosopher(n.)

early 14c., philosophre, "scholar, learned person, wise person; one devoted to the search for universal truth, a student of metaphysical and moral sciences," replacing Old English philosophe, from Latin philosophus "philosopher," from Greek philosophos "philosopher, sage, one who speculates on the nature of things and truth," literally "lover of wisdom," from philos "loving" (see philo-) + sophos "wise; a sage" (see sophist). The form with -er is from an Anglo-French or Old French variant of philosophe with an agent-noun ending. Fem. forms were philosophress (1630s), philosophess (1660s).

Pythagoras was the first who called himself philosophos, instead of sophos, 'wise man,' since this latter term was suggestive of immodesty. [Klein]

Philosopher in the Middle Ages also could be "alchemist, magician, diviner," hence Philosophers' stone (late 14c., translating Medieval Latin lapis philosophorum, early 12c.), a reputed solid substance supposed by alchemists to change baser metals into gold or silver; also identified with the elixir and thus given the attribute of prolonging life indefinitely and curing wounds and disease. In French pierre philosophale, in German der Stein der Weisen.

also from early 14c.

Entries linking to philosopher

sophist(n.)

"one who makes use of fallacious arguments," late 15c., from Late Latin sophista, an alternative form of sophistes; the earlier form in English was sophister, sophistre (late 14c.). Latin sophistes is from Greek sophistēs "a master of one's craft; a wise or prudent man, one clever in matters of daily life," from sophizesthai "to become wise or learned," from sophos "skilled in a handicraft, cunning in one's craft; clever in matters of everyday life, shrewd; skilled in the sciences, learned; clever; too clever," a word of unknown origin.

Greek sophistēs came to mean "one who gives intellectual instruction for pay," and at Athens, contrasted with "philosopher," it was a term of contempt.

Sophists taught before the development of logic and grammar, when skill in reasoning and in disputation could not be accurately distinguished, and thus they came to attach great value to quibbles, which soon brought them into contempt. [Century Dictionary]

The "learned man" sense in English is attested from 1610s but is rare.

philosophe(n.)

also philosoph, "Enlightenment rationalist and skeptic," especially in reference to any of the French Encyclopædists, often disparaging or with contemptuous implication (when used by believers), 1774, from French philosophe, literally "philosopher" (Old French filosofe; see philosopher). Usually italicized in English, but nativized by Peter Gay ("The Enlightenment," 1966) and others. Also compare philosophist. It also was the older word for "philosopher" in English, from Old English to c. 1400.