Words & WritingGreek → English
Aphorism
/ˈæfərɪzəm/noun
A short sentence that states a general truth or judgement.
The Greek roots
ἀπό
apó
off, from
ὅρος
hóros
boundary, limit
Literally: “a marking off”
The story of the word
The word starts in medicine. The Hippocratic Ἀφορισμοί are a set of clinical rules trimmed to memorable length, opening with the line that life is short and the art long, and each one is a boundary drawn around a piece of knowledge. Bacon took the form for science, La Rochefoucauld for the vices of the court. The same ὅρος, a boundary stone, gives the horizon, the line that bounds what you can see.
- How it travelled
- Ancient Greek → Late Latin → French → English
- First recorded
- 16th century
Same family
horizonhorizontalaorist
In a sentence
She had an aphorism ready for every setback, which was not always welcome.