English
omniscience
Omniscience comes from Latin scientia ‘knowledge’, from sciēns ‘knowing, aware’, and ultimately from sciō ‘to be able to’.
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEsciō‘to be able to’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEsciēns‘knowing, aware’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEscientia‘knowledge’
- Englishearliest quotation 1847omniscience
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Earlier history uncertain.
Lineage
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEsciō‘to be able to’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEsciēns‘knowing, aware’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEscientia‘knowledge’
- Englishearliest quotation 1847omniscience
Earliest quotation: 1847, – 1848 July, William Makepeace Thackeray: “If, a few pages back, the present writer claimed…”
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *skey- ‘to distinguish, dissect’
ship, equipment, shift, shed, skip, kyle, ski, shin, squire, conscience, sheath, skeet, skiff, scuttle, chine, skein, prescient, scullery, shud, 41 more
through Proto-Italic *skijō
through Latin sciō ‘to be able to’
nice, conscious, prescience, 17 more
through Latin scientia ‘knowledge’
Today it means
noun The capacity to know everything.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Latin sciō / omniscience