Sophy

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. Wisdom, learning, or a system of knowledge and beliefs, typically appearing as the second element in compound words like philosophy or theosophy
2. Knowledge or understanding of a particular subject or domain, commonly used as a combining form in words denoting a body of wisdom or study
3. A field of wisdom, doctrine, or intellectual pursuit, usually appearing in compounds that express a specific area of knowledge or philosophical framework

Etymology: Before "sophy" was a word in its own right, it was a suffix doing quiet work. The five etymologies given here are really one story told five ways: "sophy" as a noun for wisdom or learning came into Middle English from Latin "sophia", which itself came from Greek "sophia", meaning high knowledge or learning. Its sibling "Sophia", the given name, shares that same root. The stranger branch is the plural. English speakers borrowed "sophi", the Latin plural of "sophus" (wise man), and their irregular Anglicisation of it produced "sophies", which was at first used only as a plural. Later it was taken as a singular, and "sophy" became a word for a Persian ruler, the title of the Shah of Persia, through a separate Anglicisation of "sophi". The two senses share a source but no real meaning. The most common modern use is the one the suffix explains. "Sophy" in words like "philosophy" and "theosophy" is the same ending, which English took from Greek compounds and later used to build new terms for systems of knowledge.