Wisdom. Upon hearing this word, one immediately recognizes the reverence for such divine insight. But where did this word originate?
The modern semantics of the word ‘wise’ translate as being judicial, discerning, prudent, or having scholarly knowledge or learning. But how does one gain these insightful qualities?
Fascinatingly enough, the etymology of wisdom relates to tasting from the latin word sapere, in both ‘sage’ and ‘wise’. To be sapient is to be ‘wise’ or ‘to have taste’. This is also where the world homosapien is derived, meaning ‘wise man’. But why taste?
Could it be that in antiquity, when survival hinged on hunting and gathering, those who survived the longest were those who had the most judicial sense of taste? It may be that those considered wise had tasted the most and survived to learn and tell about it. Or maybe those who had the best taste were most proficient at hunting and gathering, a testament to their prudent knowledge, and therefore had experienced a greater variety of tastes.
Perhaps, before conveniences allowed for philosophical considerations, the word ‘wise’ characterized those who ‘tasted’ experience- or intimately encountered it- and were more judicial because of it?
With this knowledge in mind, where does this leave our understanding? Surely, to gain wisdom, one must experience reality intimately- to taste it so to speak- so that we may have a sensuous encounter, in all its pain and glory, to derive our judicial insight. Wisdom is recapitulated experience.
Equally fascinating is notion of ‘wisdom teeth’. Why would we come to think of these molars as wise? Perhaps in the past they considered earned after surviving the ingestion of food that otherwise killed many children due to spoiled, poisonous or diseased food. Interesting eh?
It all goes back to survival.
For etymology:
Wisdom–O.E. wisdom, from wis (see wise (adj.)) + -dom. A common Gmc. compound (cf. O.S., O.Fris. wisdom, O.N. visdomr, O.H.G. wistuom "wisdom," Ger. Weistum "judicial sentence serving as a precedent"). Wisdom teeth so called from 1848 (earlier teeth of wisdom, 1668), a loan-translation of L. dentes sapientiæ, itself a loan-transl. of Gk. sophronisteres (used by Hippocrates, from sophron "prudent, self-controlled"), so called because they usually appear ages 17-25, when a person reaches adulthood.
Sage– "wise," c.1300, from O.Fr. sage (11c.), from Gallo-Romance *sabius, from V.L. *sapius, from L. sapere "have a taste, have good taste, be wise," from PIE base *sap- "to taste." The noun meaning "man of profound wisdom" is recorded from c.1300. Originally applied to the Seven Sages — Thales, Solon, Periander, Cleobulus, Chilon, Bias, and Pittacus.
Sage- 1250–1300; ME (n. and adj.) < OF < LL sapidus wise, tasteful (L: tasty), equiv. to sap(ere) to know, be wise, orig. to taste (see sapient) + -idus -id
William Dare 