LOGOI

The corpus record

σοφία

sophia · ἡ

cleverness

Generated live from the audited corpus — every figure on this page is a database query, not prose from memory.

Where it lives

Densest 12 of 86 attested works shown, by occurrences per 10,000 attested tokens.

What it meant

σοφία · sophia — LSJ

cleverness, skill

cleverness or skill in handicraft and art, as in carpentry, τέκτονος, ὅς ῥά τε πάσης εὖ εἰδῇ σ. Il. 15.412; of the Telchines, Pi. O. 7.53; ἡ ἔντεχνος σ., of Hephaestus and Athena, Pl. Prt. 321d; of Daedalus and Palamedes, X. Mem. 4.2.33, cf. 1.4.2; in music and singing, τέχνῃ καὶ σ. h.Merc. 483, cf. 511; in poetry, Sol. 13.52, Pi. O. 1.117, Ar. Ra. 882, X. An. 1.2.8, etc.; in driving, Pl. Thg. 123c; in medicine or surgery, Pi. P. 3.54; in divination, S. OT 502 (lyr.); δυσθανατῶν ὑπὸ σοφίας εἰς γ

2 skill, sound judgement, intelligence, practical wisdom, cunning, shrewdness, craft

skill in matters of common life. sound judgement, intelligence, practical wisdom, etc., such as was attributed to the seven sages, like φρόνησις, Thgn. 790, 876, 1074, Hdt. 1.30, 60; ἡ τῶν δεινῶν σ., opp. ἀμαθία, Pl. Prt. 360d; τὴν τότε καλουμένην σ., οὖσαν δὲ δεινότητα πολιτικὴν καὶ δραστήριον σύνεσιν Plu. Them. 2; also, cunning, shrewdness, craft, Hdt. 1.68, etc.; τὸ λοιδορῆσαι θεοὺς ἐχθρὰ σ. Pi. O. 9.38.

3 learning, wisdom, speculative wisdom, EN, natural philosophy and mathematics

learning, wisdom, μείζω τινὰ ἢ κατʼ ἄνθρωπον σοφίαν σοφοί Pl. Ap. 20e; opp. ἀμαθία, ib. 22e; freq. in E., e.g. μόρσιμα . . οὐ σοφίᾳ τις ἀπώσεται Heracl. 615 (lyr.); τὸ σοφὸν οὐ σοφία (v. σοφός I.3) Ba. 395 (lyr.), etc.; freq. in Arist., speculative wisdom, EN 1141a19, Metaph. 982a2, 995b12 (pl.), 1059a18; defined as θείων τε καὶ ἀνθρωπίνων ἐπιστήμη, Stoic. 2.15; but also of natural philosophy and mathematics, σ. τις καὶ ἡ φυσική Arist. Metaph. 1005b1, cf. 1061b33.

4

among the Jews, ἀρχὴ σοφίας φόβος Κυρίου LXX Pr. 1.7, cf. Jb. 28.28, al.; Σοφία, recognized first as an attribute of God, was later identified with the Spirit of God, cf. LXX Pr. 8 with Si. 24 sq.

5

later as a title, ἡ ὑμετέρα, ἡ ὑμῶν σ., POxy. 1165.6, PSI 7.790.14 (both vi A.D.).

In the wild

6 of 763 attestations shown. Ask for more.

Where it came from

No etymology authority pointer is recorded for this lemma yet — an honest gap, not an omission. The etymological dictionaries (Beekes, Chantraine, Frisk) are matched incrementally.

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