Philosophy & ThoughtGreek → English
Pedagogy
/ˈpɛdəɡɒdʒi/noun
The method and theory of teaching.
The Greek roots
παῖς, παιδός
paîs, paidós
child, boy
ἄγειν
ágein
to lead, conduct
Literally: “child leading”
The story of the word
The παιδαγωγός was not a teacher. He was the household slave who walked the boy to the schoolmaster and back, carried his tablets and kept him out of trouble, and the word says nothing more than child-leading. English promoted him to the entire theory of instruction. Pedagogue, pediatrics and encyclopedia all rest on παῖς, while pedal and pedestrian do not, being Latin feet.
- How it travelled
- Ancient Greek → Latin → French → English
- First recorded
- 16th century
Same family
pedagoguepediatricsencyclopediaorthopedic
In a sentence
The new syllabus changes the content very little and the pedagogy completely.
His pedagogy was simple: never answer a question a student can answer for herself.