Etymology of Knowledge

The term ‘epistemology’ derives from Greek, but is not actually an ancient Greek word. Coined in 1820 as an English translation of the German Wissenschaftslehre (the title of a book by Fichte more recently translated as The Science of Knowledge). It’s root is episteme, a general term for knowledge or understanding prominent in Plato, plus logos (speech, word, discourse, reason). Episteme, in turn, comprises the prefix epi- (on, against, near) plus the verb histemi, to put or place. The root is ste-, place or determine, a variant of the Proto-Indo-European stha- or sta- which we know from modern words like static, station, stanza, obstinate, and Rajasthan. Thus etymologically, at least, ‘understanding’ is a very close relative.

In 1820, every formally educated person had studied Greek, so the coinage made intuitive sense. These days such terms can seem unnecessarily technical and daunting; maybe a little background helps.