Sophia is a very old Greek word meaning “wisdom.” Soph- shows up in lots of important words
and combines well with some of the roots we’ve already learned. For instance, philosophy is
the love (or pursuit) of wisdom. When you say someone is sophisticated, you are actually
saying that that person has wisdom about the “ways of the world.”
But what about sophomores? If you are a sophomore in high school, we apologize in advance:
It does not mean you are wise. It actually means “wise fool.” So, someone behaving in a
sophomoric manner is being immature.
In ancient Greece, the Sophists were a group of philosophers who charged money to students
to teach them various techniques of argumentation. They developed a reputation as shady
characters, so we now think of sophistry as a kind of wisdom that seems true but is actually
false.
log-; -ology
log- words- ology study of
You may already know that -ology means “the study of.” You see this root constantly in school
when talking about disciplines such as biology, psychology, anthropology, and
paleontology. But no matter the field of study, what are you really studying? Words. Log- is a
Greek root that pertains to words and beliefs. There are so many log- words in the English
language that we could not possibly cover them all here, but like all roots, you need not
memorize hundreds of words. Just get to know the roots and you will be able to guess the
meaning (and usually be right).
Logic is the use of words and ideas to persuade or to arrive at truth. Ana- means “against,” so
an analogy is an attempt to take two different things and join them together in meaning. Here’s
an example of an analogy: “Maple is to tree” as “sedan is to car.” Trees and cars don’t have
much to do with each other, but the analogy helps to see their similarity: They are both “types”
of something. An analogous situation is one that contains some common thread or theme
(even though the two things being compared might seem dissimilar). Test writers love to test
you on this word.
Here are some other log- words:
catalog (v.)—to place in order or to organize (often by words)dialogue (n.)—a conversation involving two or more peopleeulogy (n.)—a speech of praise, especially given at a funeralmonologue (n.)—a long speech made by one person