sophoi

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Ancient Greek σοφοί (sophoí, “wise”, adj).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈso.fɔɪ/
• Hyphenation: so‧phoi

Noun

sophoi

1. (substantive) plural of sophos (“sage, wise man”)
   • 2005, Christian J. Emden, Nietzsche on language, consciousness, and the body, Urbana: University of Illinois Press, →ISBN, page 16:

     […] since sophos means “wise,” sophia generally means “wisdom,” and sophoi denotes “wise men” of any kind and in any field […] . As a consequence, he regards Thales as having been the first of the sophoi and the profession as having begun with the seven sophoi of the oracle at Delphi […] . Given this understanding, the sophoi stood in close relation to religious ritual as well as to linguistic, musical, and dramatic performance, and philosophy itself becomes first of all an advanced form of poetic discourse still submerged in mythical images […]

   • 2007, Michael Gagarin, Paul Woodruff, “Early Greek legal thought”, in Fred D. Miller, Jr., Carrie-Ann Biondi, editors, A treatise of legal philosophy and general jurisprudence, volume 6, Dordrecht: Springer, →ISBN, page 7:

     […] many who are now classified separately as poets, philosophers, sophists, or historians, but whom the Greeks would have grouped together under the term sophoi—“wise men.”

   • For more quotations using this term, see Citations:sophoi.

Synonyms

• sages, wise men

References

• "sophos, sophoi, sophia" in Anthony Preus, Historical dictionary of ancient Greek philosophy, Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield, 2015, 2nd edition, p. 435. →ISBN