φιλόσοφος

Forms

φῐλόσοφος (philósophos) m or f (neuter φῐλόσοφον); second declension^[1]

Etymology

It is a compound from Ancient Greek φίλος (phílos, “loving”) + σοφός (sophós, “wise”), “loving wisdom”;^[1][2] the CGL derives its first part from the verb φιλέω (philéō, “to love”).^[3] Beekes glosses it as one who loves the wise, or wisdom, eager for knowledge.^[4]

σοφός (sophós) is unexplained: Beekes suggests it may be a substrate word, if it belongs with σάφα (sápha, “clearly”) and the name Σίσυφος (Sísuphos).^[4] The origin of φίλος (phílos) is also uncertain.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Its first use is as an adjective in a fragment of Heraclitus, “men who love wisdom”.^[5][4][6] According to Cicero and Diogenes Laertius, Pythagoras called himself φιλόσοφος, a lover of wisdom, rather than σοφός, wise.^[5]

Semantic evolution

In Isocrates, Plato and Xenophon the noun means a lover of wisdom and a learned, educated man in general, Plato defines the true philosophers as those who love to contemplate the truth, and Xenophon opposes the philosopher to the σοφιστής (sophistḗs).^[5][3] It soon became the name of a profession, and the philosopher was a stock figure of comedy.^[5][3] As an adjective it described philosophical natures and discussions, Aristotle says that poetry is more philosophical than history.^[5][3] Plutarch calls Aristotle simply “the philosopher”, and under the Roman Empire the title was given to the members of the Museum at Alexandria.^[5]

The New Testament uses it of the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers.^[7] Hesychius glosses it as one who has tried everything, eager to learn.^[8]

It was borrowed into Latin as philosophus.^[9] It survives in Modern Greek as a learned word, φιλόσοφος (filósofos), and its everyday sense of someone who takes things philosophically is a semantic loan from French philosophe.^[10]

Timeline

• 6th–5th century BC – Heraclitus uses it as an adjective of men who love wisdom.^[5][4]
• 5th–4th century BC – Isocrates and Plato use it for lovers of wisdom and learned men.^[5][3]
• 4th century BC – Aristotle calls poetry more philosophical than history.^[5]
• 1st century BC – Cicero reports that Pythagoras called himself φιλόσοφος.^[5]
• 1st century AD – The New Testament uses it of Epicureans and Stoics.^[7]
• 2nd century AD – It is the title of members of the Museum at Alexandria.^[5]
• Modern Greek – φιλόσοφος (filósofos) survives as a learned word.^[10]

Meanings

Noun

1. A lover of wisdom, a seeker of truth; a learned man.^[3][5]
2. A philosopher, by profession or as a member of a school.^[3][5]
3. (Roman period) A member of the Museum at Alexandria.^[5]

Adjective

1. Loving wisdom, eager for knowledge; learned.^[3][5]
2. Of discussions and studies, philosophical.^[3][5]
3. Of speeches and poetry, scientific, instructive.^[3][5]
4. (comedy) Ingenious.^[5]

Word family

• ἀφιλόσοφος (aphilósophos)
• φιλοσοφέω (philosophéō)
• φιλοσοφία (philosophíā)
• φιλοσόφως (philosóphōs)
• φιλοσόφημα (philosóphēma)
• φιλοσοφικός (philosophikós)

Related words

• σοφιστής (sophistḗs)
• σοφός (sophós)
• φίλος (phílos)
• Latin philosophus

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ Πάπυρος–Larousse–Britannica, Μέγα Λεξικό της Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, Athens: Πάπυρος
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
4. ^ a b c d e 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
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. ^ Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux
7. ^ a b Bauer, Walter; Danker, Frederick W., et al. (2000), A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature, 3rd ed., Chicago: University of Chicago Press
8. ^ Hesychius of Alexandria, Lexicon, ed. Kurt Latte (Α–Ο, Copenhagen 1953–1966) and Moritz Schmidt (Π–Ω, Jena 1858–1868)
9. ^ Saalfeld, Günther Alexander (1874), Index Graecorum vocabulorum in linguam latinam translatorum, Berlin: Weidmann
10. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki