# philosophy



## humvee

How do you call philosophy and philosopher in your language?

I was wondering if there were any equivalent names in other language which are not related to its Greek root, ie "love of wisdom".


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## jazyk

In Portuguese:

philosophy: filosofia
philosopher: filósofo


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## Orlin

Bulgarian:
philosophy: философия (filosofiya),
philosopher: философ (filosof).


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## rusita preciosa

Orlin said:


> Bulgarian:
> philosophy: философия (filosofiya),
> philosopher: философ (filosof).


Exactly the same in Russian.


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## sakvaka

*Finnish*:
_filosofia
filosofi_

Surprise!


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## xmarabout

in French:
philosophie 
philosophe

in Dutch:
filosofie
filosoof


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## RaLo18

Same in Hebrew: פילוסופיה (_filosofya_) and פילוסוף (_filosof_)


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## Encolpius

*Hungarian*: 

philosophy = *filozófia *or less common, old-fashioned: *bölcselet *[< bölcs = wise]

philosopher = *filozófus *or less common, old-fashioned: *bölcselő*


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## Rallino

In Turkish:

Philosophy: _*Felsefe*_
Philosopher: _*Düşünür*  (also 'filozof')_


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## ThomasK

Dutch: *wijsbegeerte* (a longing for wisdom), _*wijsgeer*_ (philosopher, same root, but this is fairly uncommon in every day language).


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## ilocas2

Czech:

philosophy - *filozofie*
philosopher - *filozof*


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## mataripis

The word "Philosophy" is from Greek words "Philo" and "Sofia".   In Pilipino it is called "Pilosopiya" but if you want Tagalog term for this, " Saligang Kaalaman" is one way to express it. sofia is wisdom and Philo is "likeness" or " tend to symphatize".


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## Perseas

In Greek:
φιλοσοφία 
φιλόσοφος



humvee said:


> How do you call philosophy and philosopher in your language?
> 
> I was wondering if there were any equivalent names in other language which are not related to its Greek root, ie "love of wisdom".


What word do Chinese use?


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## Agró

*Spanish*:
Filosofía
Filósofo

*Catalan*:
Filosofia
Filòsof

*Basque*:
Filosofia
Filosofo


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## katerpudy

mataripis said:


> The word "Philosophy" is from Greek words "Philo" and "Sofia".   In Pilipino it is called "Pilosopiya" but if you want Tagalog term for this, " Saligang Kaalaman" is one way to express it. sofia is wisdom and Philo is "likeness" or " tend to symphatize".



It should be "philos" (= friend) and "sophia" (= wisdom).


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## ThomasK

Well, there is an interesting slightly less common alternative in Dutch: *wijsbegeerte *(and then *wijsgeer*). 

Those simply kind-of translations: *wijs(-heid), *wisdom + *begeerte*, cupidity literally...


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## OneStroke

Chinese: 哲學/哲学 (zhéxué), lit. 'the study of wisdom'. The morphemes are sinitic but the word was first put together in Japanese. See yesterday's language log post (http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=4138).

Philosopher is 哲學家/哲学家 (zhéxuéjiā). The 家 suffix is always added to words with 學/学 to refer to someone who studies that field.


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## AutumnOwl

*Swedish:*
There is the word _vishetslära_ (knowledge of wisdom) that have been used for philosophy in earlier times, but today if people use vishetslära it's about New Age philosophies such as kabbalah and Feng Shui. 
The word _tänkare_ (thinker) have been used for philosophers.


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## apmoy70

katerpudy said:


> It should be "philos" (= friend) and "sophia" (= wisdom).


Actually it's from the verb «φιλέω/φιλῶ» pʰĭ'lĕō [uncontracted]/pʰī'lō [contracted] --> _to treat affectionately, love, be fond of_


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## Gavril

Icelandic: 
_
heimspeki _"philosophy" (< _heim- _"world" + _speki _"wisdom, sapience")
_heimspekingur _"philosopher"


I'm curious what the origin of Turkish _Düşünür_ and Tagalog _saligang kaalaman _are -- i.e., what did these terms mean before they meant "philosophy"/"philosopher"?


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## arielipi

hebrew: filosofya = philosophy , filosof/it = philosopher (male/female)


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## mataripis

Gavril said:


> Icelandic:
> _
> heimspeki _"philosophy" (< _heim- _"world" + _speki _"wisdom, sapience")
> _heimspekingur _"philosopher"
> 
> 
> I'm curious what the origin of Turkish _Düşünür_ and Tagalog _saligang kaalaman _are -- i.e., what did these terms mean before they meant "philosophy"/"philosopher"?


 In Tagalog "Saligang Kaalaman" it is Philosophy. Philosopher is Pantas sa Kaalaman.  Saligan came from salig (founded/based on) and kaalaman is ka(ability) + alaman(to think/analyze).Pantas is can give explanations always.They are Tagalog words.


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## mataripis

thanks katerpudy for the correction. hi gavril, if you want Tagalog words that sounds related to Philosophy , i have  " Piling Sabi" or "Piling Usap" (selected saying or words) and the right word for Philosopher is "pantas sa kaalaman" (always knowledgeable).


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## ancalimon

Rallino said:


> In Turkish:
> 
> Philosophy: _*Felsefe*_
> Philosopher: _*Düşünür*  (also 'filozof')_



I think we might also use "bilge" instead "düşünür".

Bilge: The one who knows, who thinks, who is wise.

"Bilge Kağan" might actually have been a philosopher ruler. Just like many other shamans.


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## 涼宮

In Japanese:

哲学 _tetsugaku_. Clear + study

哲学者 _tetsugakusha_. clear + study + person


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## OneStroke

涼宮 said:


> In Japanese:
> 
> 哲学 _tetsugaku_. Clear + study
> 
> 哲学者 _tetsugakusha_. clear + study + person



Are you sure it means 'bright' in the context of this word? As I've said above, 哲 means 'wisdom' in Chinese and I don't think it carries the meaning of 'clear' now (although it might have in the past). Since philosophy is about wisdom, and Japanese was the first to use 哲學, I think it's more likely that it means wisdom or something similar to that in Chinese. (If it was originally in Chinese and loaned to Japanese, it would make sense that 哲 no longer means 'wisdom' in Japanese, but this is not the case.)


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## rusita preciosa

There was a "Slavophil" movement in early-mid-1800s in Russia. Among many other things they were advocating against foreign words in the Russian language. They coined the word *любомудрие *[liubomudriye] which literally means something like "love-o-wisdom-ness", a Russian calque of the Greek term. To the Russian ear it sounds rather funny.


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## 涼宮

Yes, I am sure, One. Just in case I looked up the kanji in several kanji dictionaries and all of them said that 哲 means ''clear'' and ''philosophy'' by itself, no other meaning. That kanji has meany readings , 14 to be exact.


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## OneStroke

How weird.  I guess the Japanese just used the Chinese meanings of the morphemes to form the word, then. I wonder if there are other examples of that.


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## ahmedcowon

In Arabic:

Philosophy: Falsafa فلسفة
Philosopher: Faylassouf فيلسوف


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## Halfdan

Faroese:

Philosophy: heimspeki
Philosopher: heimspekingur


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