sophiste

Forms

sophiste m (plural sophistes)^[1] Old French sofistre, also soffistre; the spelling sophiste dates from 1370.^[2][3][4][5]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin sophistēs or sophista,^[2][6] which is from Ancient Greek σοφιστής (sophistḗs), a man skilled in an art, a philosopher, a master of eloquence, and in a bad sense a charlatan.^[2][6] Picoche places it in the learned family of σοφός (sophós, “skilful, learned, wise”).^[7] The modern spelling of 1370 is a remodelling after the Latin of the earlier soffistre.^[4][3]

Cognate with Occitan sophista, Spanish sofista and Italian sofista.^[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLFi's first record is sofistre in Henri d'Andeli, about 1245, for a professional philosopher of antiquity;^[2] Bloch and Wartburg and the Grand Robert date soffistre to about 1236.^[9][3]

Semantic evolution

The word first named the masters of rhetoric and philosophy of ancient Greece, who taught how to win an argument and defend any thesis by subtle reasoning.^[4][10] Already unfavourable in Greek from Plato on, it came to mean, by about 1380, anyone who uses specious arguments.^[4][2] Oresme writes in the 14th century teles raisons font les sophistes (“such arguments do the sophists make”).^[8] Furetière in 1690 also recorded the older Greek sense of a wise man, as the Seven Sages had been called.^[6][8] In Rabelais a sophiste is a scholastic teacher: Gargantua is taught Latin letters by one.^[8] The word is also used as an adjective of a person.^[2]

Timeline

• c. 1236 – Soffistre, according to Bloch and Wartburg and the Grand Robert.^[9][3]
• c. 1245 – Sofistre in Henri d'Andeli, for a philosopher of antiquity.^[2]
• 1370 – The spelling sophiste, in Oresme.^[3][6][4]
• c. 1380 – The sense “one who uses captious arguments”.^[2][4]
• 1690 – Furetière gives the sense “wise man” among the ancient Greeks.^[6]

Meanings

Noun

1. (Ancient Greece) A master of rhetoric and philosophy who taught the art of public speaking and of defending any thesis by subtle reasoning.^[2][10][11]
2. A person who uses specious arguments or sophisms to deceive.^[2][10][11]

Adjective

1. Of a person: belonging to the sophists, or reasoning like a sophist.^[2]

Related words

• sophisme
• sophistique
• sophistiquer
• Latin sophista

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Trésor de la langue française informatisé (2004), ATILF – CNRS & Université de Lorraine, atilf.fr/tlfi; electronic version of Imbs, Paul; Quemada, Bernard, eds. (1971–1994), Trésor de la langue française, Paris: CNRS / Gallimard
3. ^ a b c d e Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ a b c d e f Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
5. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
6. ^ a b c d e Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
7. ^ Picoche, Jacqueline (1991), Dictionnaire étymologique du français, Paris: Le Robert (Les Usuels du Robert)
8. ^ a b c d Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
9. ^ a b Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
10. ^ a b c Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
11. ^ a b Dictionnaire Le Robert en ligne, dictionnaire.lerobert.com (accessed 2024)