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Interesting... though for what it's worth, the Oxford English Dictionary doesn't confirm that origin for "science". Once you get back to scīre 'to know', it say
by jfk13 5y ago
Interesting... though for what it's worth, the Oxford English Dictionary doesn't confirm that origin for "science". Once you get back to scīre 'to know', it says "of unknown origin":
> Etymology: < Anglo-Norman cience, sience, Anglo-Norman and Middle French science (French science) knowledge, understanding, secular knowledge, knowledge derived from experience, study, or reflection, acquired skill or ability, knowledge as granted by God (12th cent. in Old French), the collective body of knowledge in a particular field or sphere (13th cent.) < classical Latin scientia knowledge, knowledge as opposed to belief, understanding, expert knowledge, particular branch of knowledge, learning, erudition < scient- , sciēns, present participle of scīre to know, of unknown origin + -ia -ia suffix¹.
Not claiming the OED is right and etymonline is wrong, of course (it could equally well be the other way around); just noting that this may not be a universally accepted etymology.
- Grustaf 5y agoThe word science definitely comes from scio - to know, but it seems correct that shit and science ultimately come from the same proto indo-european root, *skei. https://www.etymonline.com/word/science https://www.etymonline.com/word/science https://www.etymonline.com/word/shit https://www.etymonline.com/word/shit
- tkgally 5y agoI think the American Heritage Dictionary (1969) was the first general dictionary to show reconstructed Indo-European etymologies for English words [1, 2]. That’s where I learned about the supposed common origin of “science” and “shit,” more than forty years ago. The first and second editions of the OED did not show many (any?) Indo-European roots, at least as far as I can recall, and they may not have been incorporated fully yet into the current online edition either. It’s also possible that the OED editors are cautious about accepting Indo-European etymologies, which are reconstructed rather than based on written evidence. [1] https://www.ahdictionary.com/ https://www.ahdictionary.com/ [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_American_Heritage_Dictionary_of_the_English_Language https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_American_Heritage_Dictiona...