Editing Science (section)

== Etymology ==
The word ''science'' has been used in [[Middle English]] since the 14th century in the sense of "the state of knowing". The word was borrowed from the [[Anglo-Norman language]] as the suffix {{lang|xno|-cience}}, which was borrowed from the [[Latin]] word {{lang|la|[[wikt:scientia|scientia]]}}, meaning "knowledge, awareness, understanding", a [[Morphological derivation|noun derivative]] of {{lang|la|[[wikt:sciens|sciens]]}} meaning "knowing", itself the present active participle of {{lang|la|[[wikt:scio|sciō]]}}, "to know".<ref>{{cite dictionary |title=Science |encyclopedia=Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary |url=http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/science |access-date=16 October 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190901035713/https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/science |archive-date=1 September 2019 |url-status=live}}</ref>

There are many hypotheses for ''science''{{'}}s ultimate word origin. According to [[Michiel de Vaan]], Dutch linguist and [[Indo-Europeanist]], {{lang|la|sciō}} may have its origin in the [[Proto-Italic language]] as {{lang|itc-x-proto|*skije-}} or {{lang|itc-x-proto|*skijo-}} meaning "to know", which may originate from [[Proto-Indo-European language]] as ''{{PIE|*skh<sub>1</sub>-ie}}, {{PIE|*skh<sub>1</sub>-io}}'', meaning "to incise". The ''[[Lexikon der indogermanischen Verben]]'' proposed {{lang|la|sciō}} is a [[back-formation]] of {{lang|la|[[wikt:nescire|nescīre]]}}, meaning "to not know, be unfamiliar with", which may derive from Proto-Indo-European ''{{PIE|[[wikt:Reconstruction:Proto-Indo-European/sek-|*sekH-]]}}'' in Latin {{lang|la|[[wikt:secare|secāre]]}}, or ''{{PIE|*skh<sub>2</sub>-}}'', from ''{{PIE|*sḱʰeh2(i)-}}'' meaning "to cut".<ref>{{Cite encyclopedia |year=2008 |title=sciō |encyclopedia=Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages |url=https://archive.org/details/m-de-vaan-2008-etymological-dictionary-of-latin-and-the-other-italic-languages/page/544/ |last=Vaan |first=Michiel de |author-link=Michiel de Vaan |series=[[Indo-European Etymological Dictionary]] |pages=545 |isbn=978-90-04-16797-1}}</ref><!-- I honestly do not understand some of the last sentences in the source -->

In the past, science was a synonym for "knowledge" or "study", in keeping with its Latin origin. A person who conducted scientific research was called a "natural philosopher" or "man of science".<ref>{{Cite book |last=Cahan |first=David |title=From natural philosophy to the sciences: writing the history of nineteenth-century science |year=2003 |publisher=University of Chicago Press |isbn=0-226-08927-4 |pages=3–15}}</ref> In 1834, [[William Whewell]] introduced the term ''scientist'' in a review of [[Mary Somerville]]'s book ''[[On the Connexion of the Physical Sciences]]'',<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Ross |first=Sydney |year=1962 |title=Scientist: The story of a word |journal=[[Annals of Science]] |volume=18 |issue=2 |pages=65–85 |doi=10.1080/00033796200202722 |doi-access=free}}</ref> crediting it to "some ingenious gentleman" (possibly himself).<ref>{{cite OED|scientist}}</ref>