Epistemology
The word "epistemology" is derived from the ancient Greek "epistēmē" meaning "knowledge" and the suffix "-logy", meaning "logical discourse" (derived from the Greek word "logos" meaning "discourse"). It is analogue to the German "Wissenschaftslehre" (literally, theory of science) which was introduced by philosophers Johann Fichte and Bernard Bolzano in the late 18th century. The word first appeared in English in 1847 as a translation of the German in New York's "Eclectic Magazine" review of a philosophical novel by German author Jean Paul:
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.