sophistes

Forms

sophistēs m (genitive sophistae); first declension^[1] The first-declension form sophista is also used.^[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Ancient Greek σοφιστής (sophistḗs, “sophist”).^[2][5][1] The Greek word comes from σοφίζομαι (sophízomai, “to become wise or learned”), from σοφός (sophós, “skilled, clever, wise”),^[6] whose origin Beekes calls unexplained.^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

Lucilius (c. 180–102 BC) already has the vocative sophista.^[4][8] In Cicero (81–43 BC) the word names the Greek sophists, those who taught philosophy for display or gain: sic enim appellabantur hi qui ostentationis aut quaestus causa philosophabantur, “for so were called those who philosophised for show or profit”.^[3][8]

Semantic evolution

Cicero calls Protagoras sophistes maximus, “the greatest sophist”,^[3] and says that a whole style of oratory flowed into the forum from the sophists.^[2] The word carried a note of the boaster and quibbler.^[4] Under the Empire it also meant a teacher of rhetoric: Juvenal speaks of sophists who cry out with one voice and then turn to real lawsuits.^[2][4] Gellius, Apuleius and Sidonius Apollinaris use the nominative sophista.^[4]

In Medieval Latin sophista named the Greek sophists and, more generally, a wise or learned man;^[9] Aldhelm uses it of learned men.^[9] English took sophist in the late 15th century from the Late Latin form sophista.^[6]

Timeline

• c. 180–102 BC – Lucilius uses the vocative sophista.^[4][8]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of the Greek sophists.^[2][3][8]
• c. 67–c. 127 AD – Juvenal uses it of teachers of rhetoric.^[2][8]
• 639–709 AD – Aldhelm uses sophista of learned men.^[9][8]
• late 15th century – English borrows sophista as sophist.^[6]

Meanings

Noun

1. A sophist, a Greek teacher of philosophy and eloquence for pay.^[2][3][4]
2. A teacher of rhetoric, rhetorician.^[2][4]
3. (Medieval Latin) A wise or learned man.^[9]

Related words

• English sophist

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ a b c d e f g h Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
5. ^ Saalfeld, Günther Alexander (1874), Index Graecorum vocabulorum in linguam latinam translatorum, Berlin: Weidmann
6. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
7. ^ 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
8. ^ a b c d e f Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
9. ^ a b c d 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