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:
Encyclopedia
In the sixteenth century there was a level of ambiguity as to how to use this new word. As several titles illustrate, there was not a settled notion about its spelling nor its status as a noun. For example: Jacobus Philomusus's ' (1508); Johannes Aventinus's '; Joachimus Fortius Ringelbergius's ' (1538, 1541); Paul Skalich's ' (1559); Gregor Reisch's ' (1503, retitled Encyclopaedia in 1583); and Samuel Eisenmenger's ' (1585). It is only with Pavao Skalić and his "" (Encyclopaedia, or Knowledge of the World of Disciplines, Basel, 1559) that the term became first recognized as a noun.