wisdom English · revision 6138

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=compound|attested=c. 725}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /ˈwɪz.dəm/^(Roach et al. 2011)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is Middle English wisdom, [[inh|ang|wīsdōm]],^(Barnhart 1988)^(Hoad 1986)^(Etymonline) [[af|ang|wīs|-dōm|t1=wise|t2=-dom, condition]] (see [[wise]] and [[-dom]]).^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline)^(MWU 2024) It is a common Germanic compound: compare [[osx|wīsdōm]], [[goh|wīstuom]] (German Weistum “legal sentence, precedent”) and [[non|vísdómr]].^(Barnhart 1988)^(Hoad 1986)^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ About 725, in ''Beowulf''.^(Barnhart 1988) Old English wīsdōm meant knowledge, learning and experience, good judgment in worldly affairs, and also spiritual truth.^(Etymonline)^(OED 1989)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Wisdom personified, almost always as a woman, and wisdom as an attribute of Christ are both from about 888.^(OED 1989) Knowledge, especially of a high or abstruse kind, learning, is from about 950, a sense Hoad marks obsolete.^(OED 1989)^(Hoad 1986) Wisdom has been paired with [[wit]] since about 1200,^(Etymonline) and ''your wisdom'' was a respectful form of address in the 15th century.^(Etymonline)^(OED 1989) Ironic ''in his wisdom'' is from 1852.^(OED 1989) The [[wisdom tooth]] is so called by 1848, earlier ''teeth of wisdom'' (1660s) and wit-tooth (about 1600),^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988) a loan translation of Latin dentes sapientiae, itself after Greek sōphronistēres, used by Hippocrates, because they appear at about 17 to 25, when a person reaches adulthood.^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988) In Scots and northern dialect ''to pull one's wisdom teeth'' meant to make someone less self-assured.^(Wright 1898)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 725 – Old English wīsdōm, in ''Beowulf''.^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * c. 888 – Wisdom personified.^(OED 1989)

+ * c. 1200 – paired with wit.^(Etymonline)

+ * 15th century – your wisdom, as a title.^(Etymonline)

+ * 1660s – teeth of wisdom.^(Etymonline)

+ * 1848 – wisdom tooth.^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Noun===

+ # The ability to judge rightly what is true, right or lasting, using knowledge, experience and [[insight]].^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # Good sense; sound [[judgment]].^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # Accumulated learning or knowledge, or the wise teachings of the past: ''conventional wisdom''.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # A wise course of action: ''I question the wisdom of this plan''.^(AHD)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[wisdomless]]

+ * [[conventional wisdom]]

+ * [[wisdom of Solomon]]

+ * [[wisdom tooth]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[wise]]

+ * [[wit]]

+ * [[-dom]]

+ * [[wizard]]

+ * [[vision]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}