Philosophy & ThoughtGreek → English
Academy
/əˈkædəmi/noun
A place of specialised training, or a society of scholars and artists.
The Greek roots
Ἀκαδήμεια
Akadḗmeia
grove of Akademos
Literally: “grove of Akademos”
Follow a root:Ἀκαδήμεια1 word
The story of the word
Plato taught in an olive grove north-west of Athens sacred to a local hero called Ἀκάδημος, and the school took the property's name, so every academy since is named after a piece of real estate. Ἀκάδημος had earned the grove by telling Castor and Pollux where Theseus had hidden their sister Helen, and Spartan armies are said to have spared the trees for that reason. Sulla's troops cut them down for siege engines in 86 BC.
- How it travelled
- Ancient Greek → Latin → French → English
- First recorded
- 15th century
The same roots elsewhere
Other languages reached for exactly the same Greek pieces.
Same family
academicacademiaacademician
In a sentence
He left the police academy three weeks before graduation.
The French Academy still votes on what counts as a word.