Know thyself Know thyself The Ancient Greek aphorism "know thyself" (Greek: , transliterated: '; also ' with the ε contracted), is one of the Delphic maxims and was inscribed in the pronaos (forecourt) of the Temple of Apollo at Delphi according to the Greek writer Pausanias (10.24.1). The phrase was later expounded upon by the philosopher Socrates who taught that: In Latin the phrase, "know thyself," is given as "nosce te ipsum" or "temet nosce". The maxim, or aphorism, "know thyself" has had a variety of meanings attributed to it in literature. According to a proposal by De Lubicz and Lamy (1956),
Latin influence in English already existed, and this caused enrichment of the Old English vocabulary: "culcer" and "læfel" "spoon" from Latin "coclearium" and "labellum" beside Old English "spōn" and "hlædel" (Modern English "ladle"); Old English "forca" from Latin "furca" "fork" next to Old English "gafol"; Old English "scamol" "chair, stool" from Latin "scamellum" beside native "stōl", "benc" and "setl". All told, approximately 600 words were borrowed from Latin during the Old English period. Often, the Latin word was severely restricted in sense, and was not widespread in use among the general populace. Latin words tended to be literary or scholarly terms and were not