English
phenomenology
Phenomenology comes from Ancient Greek φαινόμενον ‘thing appearing to view’, and goes back to Proto-Indo-European *bʰeh₂- ‘to shine, glow light’.
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*bʰeh₂-‘to shine, glow light’reconstructed
- Proto-Indo-European, derivedc. 4500–2500 BCE*bʰh₂nyétireconstructed
- Proto-Hellenicc. 2200–1600 BCE*pʰáňňō‘to appear’reconstructed
- Ancient Greekc. 800–300 BCEφαίνωphaínō‘to cause to appear’
- Ancient Greek, derivedc. 800–300 BCEφαινόμενονphainómenon‘thing appearing to view’
- Englishearliest quotation 1981phenomenology
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
Lineage
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*bʰeh₂-‘to shine, glow light’reconstructed
- Proto-Indo-European, derivedc. 4500–2500 BCE*bʰh₂nyétireconstructed
- Proto-Hellenicc. 2200–1600 BCE*pʰáňňō‘to appear’reconstructed
- Ancient Greekc. 800–300 BCEφαίνωphaínō‘to cause to appear’
- Ancient Greek, derivedc. 800–300 BCEφαινόμενονphainómenon‘thing appearing to view’
- Englishearliest quotation 1981phenomenology
Earliest quotation: 1981, William Irwin Thompson, The Time Falling Bodies Take to Light: Mythology: “Writing, individuation, and civilization are all parts of one…”
Formed from phenomenon + -logy
Proto-Indo-European *bʰeh₂- ‘to shine, glow light’
…
Proto-Hellenic *pʰáňňō ‘to appear’
Ancient Greek φαίνω ‘I show’
Ancient Greek φαινόμενον ‘thing appearing to view’
Late Latin phaenomenon ‘appearance’
English phenomenon
The story
According to Martin Heidegger's Introduction to Phenomenological Research, "the expression “phenomenology” first appears in the eighteenth century in Christian Wolff’s School, in Lambert’s Neues Organon, in connection with analogous developments popular at the time, like dianoiology and alethiology, and means a theory of illusion, a doctrine for avoiding illusion." (p.3)
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *bʰeh₂- ‘to shine, glow light’
phone, focus, professor, famous, fuel, favor, favourite, ban, ben, fate, fame, profession, fatal, bee, fairy, abandon, infant, fabulous, photographer, confession, confess, beacon, beck, symphony, boon, eff, fab, fay, bane, fable, foyer, banish, buoy, nefarious, profess, prophetic, banal, infamy, bene, cacophony, 119 more
through Proto-Hellenic *pʰáňňō ‘to appear’
through Ancient Greek φαίνω ‘to cause to appear’
fantasy, fancy, emphasis, phantom, epiphany, fantasia, tryptophan, phantasm, 44 more
through Ancient Greek φαινόμενον ‘thing appearing to view’
Today it means
noun The study of structures of consciousness as experienced from the first-person point of view.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *bʰeh₂- / phenomenology