σοφιστής

Forms

σοφῐστής (sophistḗs) m (genitive σοφῐστοῦ, feminine σοφῐ́στρῐᾰ); first declension^[1]

Etymology

An agent noun, from Ancient Greek σοφίζω (sophízō) + -ιστής (-istḗs), “to make wise, devise cleverly”, the verb of σοφός (sophós), “skilled, wise”.^[1][2] Beekes leaves the adjective unexplained, and if it is related to σάφα (sápha) and the name Σίσυφος (Sísuphos), it would be a substrate word, which he marks as possibly Pre-Greek.^[2]

Ancient lexicographers explained the word from σοφίζεσθαι (sophízesthai), “to deceive with words”, and recalled that in old times the sophist was simply the wise man.^[3][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Its earliest uses are in Pindar and Aeschylus, in the late 6th and 5th centuries BC, for a master of a craft: Pindar uses it of poets and Aeschylus of a musician.^[5][6][7]

Semantic evolution

The first sense was an expert of any art: Herodotus calls a diviner a σοφιστής, Plato even the maker of the universe, and comic poets a cook.^[5][6] It then meant a wise man: Herodotus uses it of the Seven Sages and of Pythagoras, but already Aeschylus' Prometheus is mocked as a clever one with an ironic edge.^[5][6]

From the late 5th century BC it named the paid teachers of rhetoric, politics and other skills, such as Protagoras, Gorgias and Prodicus, and Xenophon defines sophists as those who sell wisdom for money.^[5][6] Through the ill fame of these teachers at Athens it came to mean a quibbler or cheat, as in Aristophanes and Demosthenes.^[5][6][8] In the Septuagint it renders the wise men and diviners of Pharaoh and of Babylon, in a bad sense.^[9] Under the Empire the word became an honourable title again, for professors of rhetoric and declaimers such as Philostratus and Libanius, often on epitaphs.^[5][6]

Medieval vernacular Greek used it for a skilled craftsman, a wise man and a deceiver.^[10] Modern Greek σοφιστής (sofistís) is a learned word for the ancient sophists and, colloquially, for someone who argues with sophistries.^[11] It passed into Latin as sophistes and sophista, and English sophist is recorded from the late 15th century.^[1][12]

Timeline

• 6th–5th century BC – Pindar uses it of poets, and Aeschylus of a musician and, ironically, of Prometheus.^[5][13]
• 5th century BC – Herodotus uses it of a diviner, of the Seven Sages and of Pythagoras.^[5][13]
• 5th century BC – Thucydides uses it of the paid teachers of rhetoric.^[5][6][13]
• 5th–4th century BC – Aristophanes uses it of quibblers, and Xenophon defines sophists as sellers of wisdom.^[5][13]
• 3rd century BC – The Septuagint's Exodus uses it of Pharaoh's wise men.^[9][7]
• 2nd–3rd century AD – It is the title of professors of rhetoric such as Philostratus.^[5][13]
• Late 15th century – English sophist is recorded, from Late Latin.^[12]

Meanings

Noun

1. A master of a craft, an expert: a poet, musician, diviner.^[5][6]
2. A deviser or contriver, with a genitive of what is devised.^[6][5]
3. A wise man or teacher, said of the Seven Sages, Solon and Pythagoras.^[5][6]
4. A sophist, a paid teacher of rhetoric and other skills, from the late 5th century BC.^[5][6]
5. (pejorative) A quibbler, charlatan or cheat.^[5][6]
6. (Imperial period) A professor of rhetoric, a declaimer.^[5][6]

Word family

• μετεωροσοφιστής (meteōrosophistḗs)
• ἀσόφιστος (asóphistos)
• δειπνοσοφιστής (deipnosophistḗs)
• σοφιστορήτωρ (sophistorḗtōr)

Related words

• σοφιστεύω (sophisteúō)
• σοφιστικός (sophistikós)
• σοφός (sophós)
• σοφία (sophíā)
• σόφισμα (sóphisma)
• Latin sophista
• English sophist

Usage notes

Euripides has a line that became a saying: “I hate a sophist who is not wise for himself.”^[5]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b Beekes, Robert S. P. (2010), Etymological Dictionary of Greek, with the assistance of Lucien van Beek, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 10, Leiden; Boston: Brill
3. ^ Lexica Segueriana, in Immanuel Bekker, ed. (1814), Anecdota Graeca I, Berlin: Nauck
4. ^ Gaisford, Thomas, ed. (1848), Etymologicum Magnum, Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
7. ^ a b Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux
8. ^ Κέντρο Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, Βασικό Λεξικό της Αρχαίας Ελληνικής, Portal for the Greek Language, https://www.greek-language.gr
9. ^ a b Lust, Johan; Eynikel, Erik; Hauspie, Katrin (2003), Greek-English Lexicon of the Septuagint, rev. ed., Stuttgart: Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft
10. ^ Kriaras, Emmanuel, Επιτομή του Λεξικού της μεσαιωνικής ελληνικής δημώδους γραμματείας 1100–1669, Κέντρο Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, https://www.greek-language.gr
11. ^ Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
12. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
13. ^ a b c d e Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge