Episteme
"Episteme" is a philosophical term derived from the Ancient Greek word ἐπιστήμη "epistēmē", which can refer to knowledge, science or understanding, and which comes from the verb , meaning "to know, to understand, or to be acquainted with".
Epistemology
While these distinctions are not explicit in English, they are defined explicitly in other languages (N.B. some languages related to English have been said to retain these verbs, e.g. Scots: and ). In French, Portuguese, Spanish, German and Dutch 'to know (a person)' is translated using , , and (both German and Dutch) respectively, whereas 'to know (how to do something)' is translated using , (both Portuguese and Spanish), , and . Modern Greek has the verbs () and (). Italian has the verbs and and the nouns for 'knowledge' are and . German has the verbs and ; the former implies knowing a fact, the latter knowing in the sense of being acquainted with and having a working knowledge of; there is also a noun derived from , namely , which has been said to imply knowledge in the form of recognition or acknowledgment. The verb itself implies a process: you have to go from one state to another, from a state of "not-" to a state of true . This verb seems the most appropriate in terms of describing the "episteme" in one of the modern European languages, hence the German name "". The theoretical interpretation and significance of these linguistic issues remains controversial.