Etymologically
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philosophicus

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [pʰɪ.ɫɔˈsɔ.pʰɪ.kʊs][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [fi.loˈs̬ɔː.fi.kus][1]

Forms

philosophicus (feminine philosophica, neuter philosophicum, adverb philosophicē); first/second-declension adjective[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Ancient Greek φιλοσοφικός (philosophikós, “philosophical”), from φιλοσοφία (philosophía, “love of knowledge”), and amounts to philosophia with the suffix -icus.[1][2] The TLL points out that the Greek adjective is very rare and that the word could just as well have been formed in Latin from philosophus (“philosopher”) with the same suffix;[3] Köbler also refers it to that noun.[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

It appears from Tertullian on,[3][4] in his treatise against the Valentinians, meaning “of philosophy, of the philosophers”.[5]

Semantic evolution

The word is post-classical.[6] Cicero did without it and used phrases such as haec in philosophia ratio instead;[3] at Tusculan Disputations 5.121 the right reading is philosophiae, according to Nonius.[6] After Tertullian it is found in Marius Victorinus, Ambrose, Macrobius and Sidonius Apollinaris,[3][6][7] and in Christian writers generally.[7]

In medieval Latin it qualified both persons, a learned and wise man, and abstract things;[8] it also set profane learning apart from sacred knowledge, poetry and letters, and referred to the pagan philosophers.[8] The feminine philosophica was used as a noun for knowledge, and the neuter philosophicum for a quotation from a philosopher, an aphorism.[8] British sources applied it to a method or teaching, and to farming done on the principles of natural philosophy (agricultura philosophica).[2] Medieval spellings include phylosophicus and filosoficus.[8]

Timeline

  • c. 160–220 AD – Tertullian uses it in his work against the Valentinians.[5][3][4]
  • first half of the 4th century AD – Marius Victorinus uses it.[3][4]
  • c. 431–486 AD – Sidonius Apollinaris uses it in a letter.[6][7][4]
  • 672 – Aldhelm writes of the “philosophical art” in a letter.[2]
  • 1004 – A letter of Fulbert has the spelling phylosophicus.[8]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Of or belonging to philosophy, philosophical.[6][7][5][9]
  2. (Medieval Latin) Of a person: learned, wise.[8]
  3. (Medieval Latin) Belonging to secular learning, as distinct from sacred knowledge.[8]

Noun

  1. (Medieval Latin, feminine philosophica) knowledge, learning.[8]
  2. (Medieval Latin, neuter philosophicum) A quotation from a philosopher, an aphorism.[8]

References

  1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c Latham, R. E., D. R. Howlett, R. K. Ashdowne, et al. (1975–2013), Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources, London: British Academy / Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d e f Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  4. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  5. ^ a b c Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
  6. ^ a b c d e Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ a b c d Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
  8. ^ a b c d e f g h i Novum Glossarium Mediae Latinitatis ab anno DCCC usque ad annum MCC (1957–), Copenhagen / Geneva / Paris: Union Académique Internationale; IRHT
  9. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson