English

Alternative forms

• Sofia

Proper noun

Sophia

1. A female given name, borne by an early Christian saint, and by European royalty.
   • 1749, Henry Fielding, The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling

     To say the truth, Sophia, when very young, discerned that Tom, though an idle, thoughtless, rattling rascal, was nobody's enemy but his own […]

   • 1766 Oliver Goldsmith: The Vicar of Wakefield:

     I intended to call her after Aunt Grizel, but my wife who, during pregnancy, had been reading romances, insisted upon her being called Olivia. In less than another year we had another daughter, and now I was determined that Grizel should be her name; but a rich relation taking a fancy to stand godmother, the girl was, by her directions, called Sophia, so that we had two romantic names in the family, but I solemnly protest I had no hand in it.

   • 1998 Anne Tyler, A Patchwork Planet, A.A.Knopf Inc., page 2:

     Gram said, "Sophia. Would that be an Italian name?" "It came from a great-aunt," Sophia told her, turning briefly in her direction. "Was your great-aunt Italian?" "No, Scottish." "Oh." I knew what Gram was aiming at here. She wanted to find out whether Sophia was Catholic. She poked her headful of pink curlers forward for a moment and looked at me. "Presbyterian, " I told her. "Oh." She sat back again, Oh, well, you could see her thinking, her own daughter had married Episcopal and the sky hadn't fallen in. "It's a pretty name, anyhow," she told Sophia. "Thank you." "I like names that end with an a, don't you? - - -

2. (Gnosticism) An aeon (a form of divine being) in the Gnostic tradition.

Related terms

• Sonia, Sonya, Sophie

Translations

Etymology 2

See Sophy

Noun

Sophia ‎(plural Sophias) (historical)^[1]

1. Archaic spelling of Sophy. (title of a Safavid dynasty shah):
   • 1578 May 16, “[letter]”, in Arthur John Butler, editor, Calendar of state papers, Foreign series, of the reign of Elizabeth, 1578–1579, London: Public Record Office, published 1903, OCLC 844598440:

     It is written from Constantinople that the 'Sophia' of Persia is dead and that his brother had taken the government.

   • For more examples of usage of this term, see Citations:Sophia.

References

1. ↑ “Sophy, n.1”, in OED Online, Oxford: Oxford University Press, launched 2000.

Danish

Proper noun

Sophia

1. A female given name, variant of Sofie.

German

Alternative forms

• Sofia f

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [zoˈfiːa]
• Hyphenation: So‧phi‧a

Proper noun

Sophia f ‎(genitive Sophia or Sophias or Sophiens)

1. A female given name, cognate to English Sophia.

Related terms

• Sofie, Sophie, Sonja

Swedish

Proper noun

Sophia

1. A female given name, a less common spelling of Sofia.

Latin

Noun

sophia f ‎(genitive sophiae); first declension

1. wisdom (often personified)

Inflection

First declension.

Related terms

Descendants

• English: sophy
• Middle English: sophie

References

• sophia in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• SOPHIA in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition, 1883–1887)
• Félix Gaffiot (1934), “sophia”, in Dictionnaire Illustré Latin-Français, Paris: Hachette.
• sophia in William Smith, editor (1848) A Dictionary of Greek Biography and Mythology, London: John Murray
• sophia in Richard Stillwell et al., editor (1976) The Princeton Encyclopedia of Classical Sites, Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press