wise man
(Formerly often as one word, or with hyphen; cf. the surname Wiseman.)
1. a. gen. A man who is wise; a man of good judgement or discernment; a discreet or prudent man. (Often opposed to fool.)
worldly wiseman: see worldly.
| c 888 ælfred Boeth. xl. §3 Forðy ne scyle nan wis mon forhiᵹan ne to swiðe ymb þæt gnornian, to hwæm his wise weorðe. c 1000 ælfric Saints' Lives xiii. 116 Ne sceal se wise mann beon butan godum weorcum. a 1225 Ancr. R. 214 Wel understond euerich wis mon þis. c 1300 Havelok 180 Wis man of red, wis man of dede. 1390 Gower Conf. I. 46 It myhte make a wisman madd. c 1400 Rule St. Benet (prose) 15 Þe wyse man musters hym wid fa wordis & welle sitande. 1481 Caxton Godfrey xxv. 57 There ben more fooles than wysemen. a 1548 Hall Chron., Edw. IV 207 This mariage semed very straunge to wise men. 1549 Compl. Scot. Prol. 16, I hope that vyise men vil reput my ignorance for ane mortifeit prudens. a 1619 M. Fotherby Atheom. i. xiv. §3. (1622) 150 Wisemen indeed haue euer reputed them, for no better then mad-men. 1702 H. Dodwell Apol. §13 in S. Parker Cicero's De Finibus, He took Cato for a perfect Stoick, and for a Wiseman, in the Sense of the Philosophers. 1770 Bridges Burlesque Transl. Homer ii. 26 Old Nestor,..Who always counted was a Wise-man. 1853 Lynch Self-Improvem. i. 2 He is a wise man who has an instructed mind and a regulated choice. 1859 Geo. Eliot A. Bede xix, A fool 'ull hit on't sometimes when a wise man misses. |
b. Ironically applied to a fool or simpleton, as in the wise men of Gotham (see Gotham 1).
| [1471 Paston Lett. III. 32 Yonge Wyseman othyrwy[s]e callyd Foole.] 1526, c 1560 [see Gotham 1]. 1596 Raleigh Discov. Guiana 5 Who like Wise men in the absence of their Captaine followed the Indians. 1711 Countrey-Mans Lett. to Curate 32 It were..too Churlish to grudge these talkers the Character of the only Wisemen of G―. |
2. spec. a. A man deeply versed in some subject of study, or in studies generally; a learned man, scholar, philosopher, sage. Now rare or arch.
the seven wise men = the seven sages: see sage n.2 1.
| a 1000 Cædmon's Exod. 377 Wise men wordum secgað, þæt from Noe niᵹoða wære fæder Abrahames on folctale. 1338 R. Brunne Chron. (1810) 114 Wis man in þe lawe. 1379 Glouc. Cath. MS. 19 i. i. iv. lf 1 Iff þ{supu} will wysman be in demyng of vryn. 1387 Trevisa Higden (Rolls) III. 63 Tales Millesus..þe firste of þe seuene wise men. 1450–80 tr. Secr. Secr. iii. 6 His philesofris and grete wise⁓men of clergie. 1588 Kyd Househ. Philos. Index, Thales one of the seauen wise men of Greece. 1655 Stanley Hist. Philos. Pref. (1687) 2 Hermippus in his Treatise of the seven wise Men saith, they were in all seventeen, of which seven were variously named. 1656 Blount Glossogr., Solon, one of the seven wisemen of Greece. 1842 W. C. Taylor Anc. Hist. ix. §5 (ed. 3) 240 Periander, who is sometimes ranked among the Seven Wise Men of Greece. 1850 Ld. Kelvin in S. P. Thompson Life (1910) I. v. 223 The steamer appeared about 4 p.m.—contrary to the expectation of the nautical wise men about the harbour. |
b. A man who utters wise sayings or maxims; esp. as a title for any of the writers of the Jewish ‘Wisdom Literature’.
| a 1225 Ancr. R. 64 Þe wise mon [sc. Solomon] askeð in his boc hweðer [etc.]. 1375 Barbour Bruce i. 121 And wys men sayis he is happy, That be othir will him chasty. c 1400 Rule St. Benet (verse) 1080 Þus þe wisman sais þerbi. 1542 Boorde Dyetary ix. (1870) 251 The wyse man sayth, that surfetes do kyll many men. 1587 T. Newton Herbal for Bible l. 274 So doth the Wiseman [marg. Eccle. i. 24] vse it, whereby he promiseth felicitie..to him that..embraceth Wisedom. 1611 Bible Transl. Pref. ¶3 There is no new thing vnder the Sunne, saith the wiseman. 1649 Wilkins Beauty Provid. 92 Like snow in Harvest (as the Wiseman speaks). 1659 Gentl. Calling v. §13 The wise-man hath assured us this, Prov. 11. 4. Riches profit not in the day of wrath. c 1705 Pope Jan. & May 153 Yet you pursue sage Solomon's advice,..But, with the wiseman's leave, I must protest. c 1750 New Whole Duty of Man viii, The threatening of the Wise-man, who..declares, that the eye that mocketh his father,..the ravens of the valley shall pick it out. |
c. One of a body of men chosen for their sagacity as advisers in matters of state; a councillor. colloq. in mod. use.
By 16th–18th century historians used in pl. to render witan.
| c 1250 Gen. & Ex. 2649 Ðe king wið-stod & an wisman, He seide, ‘ðe child doð als he can’. 1488 Cely Papers (Camden) 169 That eueryche of thes contreys doo send..serten wyse⁓men w{supt} full auctoryte..for to coomen..w{supt} the Gauntnersse. 1502 Arnolde Chron. (1811) p. xx, This yere wer chosen be wise men of the cite, xxxv men,..sworne to mayntene the Assisis. 1591 Lambarde Archeion (1635) 256 All the Acts are said to passe from the King, and his Wise-men both of the Clergie and Laitie. 1648 Prynne Plea for Lords 3 Lordes and Peeres; anciently stiled Aldermen, Heretockes, Senators, Wisemen,..by our Historians. 1714 J. Fortescue-Aland Pref. Fortescue's Abs. & Lim. Mon. 18 King Alfred..with the Thought, i.e. Advice of his Wise⁓men, or Parliament. 1959 J. Balogh in H. Thomas Establishment 98 In the negotiations on the finance of NATO rearmament in Lisbon the British representative ‘wise man’ accepted a contribution wholly out of line with the relative capacities to bear the burden. 1969 D. Acheson Present at Creation xxxi. 277 Lester Pearson has continually urged the council to set up committees of ‘wise men’ to find a use for it [sc. Article 2 of the North Atlantic Treaty]. 1973 Times 5 May 4/4 The appointment of two independent ‘wise men’ by the United States and the European Community to prepare the ground for the forthcoming round of international trade talks, was suggested. 1983 Times 24 Feb. 6/8 A socialist leader..has been nominated to the elite body of nine ‘wise men’ who form France's Constitutional Council. 1984 Times 29 Oct. 1/3 The Gaddafi affair..is unlikely to go away as quickly as the TUC's ‘four wise men’ monitoring the dispute would wish. |
3. A man versed or skilled in hidden arts, as magic, witchcraft, and the like; a magician, wizard; spec. applied in biblical versions and allusions to the three Oriental astrologers or Magi (see Magus 2) who came to worship the infant Jesus. In general sense now dial. or vulgar (cf. wise woman 1).
| 1382 Wyclif Matt. ii. 1 When Jhesus was born in Bethlem..loo! kyngis, or wijs men [1388 astronomyenes; Vulg. Magi], camen fro the eest. 1552 Latimer Serm. Lincs. v. (1562) 100 b, Whan we be in trouble, or sicknes, or lose any thing: we runne hither and thither to wyssardes, or sorcerers, whome we call wyse men. 1561 S. Wythers tr. Calvin's Treat. Relics G iv b, Y⊇ wysmen which came to worshipe our lord Iesus after his natiuitie. 1573 Twyne æneid., Life Virgil A 3, That he was at the first couenaunt seruant w{supt} a traueilinge wyseman. 1595 Peele Old Wives T. (facs.) C 1 b, I pray you tell where the wise man the Coniurer dwells? 1612 Cotta Discov. Dang. Pract. Phys. i. ix. 71 A sort of practitioners, whom our custome..doth call wisemen and wisewomen, reputed a kind of good..harmles witches or wisards, who by good words..promise to allay..diuels, practises of other witches, and the forces of many diseases. 1731 Flying Post 29 Apr. 2/1 George Raunsforth,..a reputed Conjurer, or (as the Country People call him) a Wise Man. 1802 R. Anderson Cumbld. Ball. 39 The wise man lives nit far frae this,..He telt Nan Dobson whee she'd wed. 1839 [see Magus 2]. |
4. (old) wise man: an archetypal figure appearing in myths, folklore, etc., representing wisdom or meaning, esp., in the theory of C. G. Jung, one of the archetypes of the collective unconscious; cf. wise old man s.v. wise a. (n.3, adv.) 1 a.
| 1692 W. Salmon tr. ‘Hermes Trismegistus’ in Practical Physick v. 203/1 But if thou shalt say, that Wisdom or the Wise Man does Rule or Command among all Mankind. 1940 S. Dell tr. Jung's Integration of Personality iii. 87 The magician is the archetype of the old wise man. Ibid. 88, I have been content to call it the archetype of the old wise man or of meaning. 1973 J. Singer Boundaries of Soul x. 262 The archetype of the mana-personality, an Old Wise Man whose power is born of understanding the timeless life processes. |