philosophre

• philosofre
• ffilosofer, fylosofre, fylysofer, philosopher, philosophere, philozophre, philsophir, phylosofre, phylysophre (Late Middle English)
• philosephoure, philosophour, phylosophyre, phylosyphere (Early Scots); philisophour, philosiphir (Northern)

Probably from Old French filosofe +‎ -ere (agentive suffix), possibly due to the analogy of other terms from Romance such as chapitre (hence the common form with -re), with the Old French term itself being from Latin philosophus, from Ancient Greek φιλόσοφος (philósophos).

Early Scots forms such as philosophour are probably instead from filosofe + -our, perhaps to make the stress pattern conform to philosophie.

• IPA^(key): /filɔˈsɔfrə/, /filɔˈsɔfər/, /filə-/, /-ˈsɔːf-/
• IPA^(key): /fiˌlɔzɔˈfuːr/, /fiˈlɔzɔfur/ (Early Scots)

philosophre (plural philosophres)

1. A scholar or researcher; an investigator of knowledge:
   1. A scientist; a researcher in the natural sciences.
   2. An alchemist or occultist; an expert in the occult arts.
2. (specifically) A philosopher; an authority in philosophy (especially ethics or metaphysics)
3. (with definite article) A particular philosopher, especially Aristotle.

• English: philosopher
• Middle Scots: philosophour
  • Scots: philosopher

• “philosophre, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.
• “philosopher, n.”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, launched 2000.
• “philosophour, n.”, in The Dictionary of the Scots Language, Edinburgh: Scottish Language Dictionaries, 2004–present, →OCLC, reproduced from William A[lexander] Craigie, A[dam] J[ack] Aitken [et al.], editors, A Dictionary of the Older Scottish Tongue: […], Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, 1931–2002, →OCLC.