It's the Word of the Day podcast for September 30th.
Today's word is epistemic, also pronounced epistemic and spelled E-P-I-S-T-E-M-I-C.
Epistemic is an adjective.
It means of or relating to knowledge or knowing.
Here's the word used in a sentence from The New Yorker by Brady Brickner Wood.
Is the novel's primary purpose to entertain
or to deepen our experience of being alive, to offer escape or epistemic enrichment?
If you're not in the know about the history of the word epistemic, allow us to enlighten you.
The term's root is the Greek word episteme, meaning skill, expertise, knowledge,
and specifically scientific knowledge as opposed to practical skill.
Episteme, in turn, comes from the verb episteme, meaning to have the skill,
to know how, to have knowledge of, to understand.
Epistemi itself combines the prefix epi, meaning upon or attached to, with the verb histemi, meaning to cause to stand.
Tidbit, histini is also an ancestor of the English words system, stand, and understand.
The study of the nature and grounds of knowledge is called epistemiology,
and one who engages in such study is known as an epistemiologist.
With your word of the day, I'm Peter Sokolowski.
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