1549, Arthur F. Kinney, quoting Thomas Chaloner (translator), The praise of folie, quoted in Continental humanist poetics : studies in Erasmus, Castiglione, Marguerite de Navarre, Rabelais, and Cervantes, Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press, translation of Encomium moriae by Desiderius Erasmus, published 1989, →ISBN:
But I meane the other, who to the ende they myght shonne that presumptuous name of Sophi or wysemen, did rather take vpon them to be called sophistes.
Others derive Sophi from the Sophi or Sages anciently called Magi.
1795, T. Hartley, True Christian religion containing the universal theology of the New Church, […], 3rd edition, London: R. Hindmarsh, translation of original by Emanuel Swedenborg, →OCLC, page 606:
I was one Day raiſed up into Heaven, and introduced into a Society conſiſting of the Sophi, or Sages, […]
c.1596, William Shakespeare, “The Merchant of Venice”, in The complete works of Shakspere: revised from the original editions with a memoir, and essay on his genius, volume 2, Cleveland: Jewett, published 1857, →OCLC, page 339:
By this scimitar, That slew the Sophi and a Persian prince, That won three fields of Sultan Solyman, […]
Tahmasp the "Bactrian Sophi," whose defensive policy is commemorated in the lines of Milton quoted as a heading to this chapter,[…]
1980, Roger Savory, Iran under the Safavids, Cambridge [u.a.]: Cambridge University Press, published 2007, →ISBN, page 259:
The Safavid shahs were commonly termed by Western writers "Sophie", "Sophy", "Sophi" or "Soffi". All these terms were probably corruptions of Ṣafī, the name of the founder of the Safavid Order, rather than of Ṣūfī, as the Safavid supporters called themselves.
2005, John Renard, Historical dictionary of Sufism, Lanham, MD: Scarecrow Press, →ISBN, page xxxv:
Shi'ism became the official creed of Iran, and the Safawid rulers were sometimes called Sufi or Grand Sophi.
1819, “Sofee”, in Abraham Rees, editor, The cyclopædia, or, Universal dictionary of arts, sciences, and literature, volume 33, London: Longman [et al.], →OCLC, unnumbered page:
SOFEE. See Sophi.
1819, “Sofi, or Sophi”, in Abraham Rees, editor, The cyclopædia, or, Universal dictionary of arts, sciences, and literature, volume 33, London: Longman [et al.], →OCLC, unnumbered page:
SOFI, or Sophi. See Sophi.
1819, “Sophi, or Sofi”, in Abraham Rees, editor, The cyclopædia, or, Universal dictionary of arts, sciences, and literature, volume 33, London: Longman [et al.], →OCLC, unnumbered page:
SOPHI, or Sofi, a title of quality, given to the emperor of Perſia; importing as much as wiſe, ſage, or philoſopher.¶[…]See Sophis.
