Scientia potentia est Scientia potentia est The phrase "scientia potentia est"" (or "scientia est potentia" or also "scientia potestas est")" is a Latin aphorism meaning "knowledge is power". It is commonly attributed to Sir Francis Bacon, although there is no known occurrence of this precise phrase in Bacon's English or Latin writings. However, the expression ""ipsa scientia potestas est"" ('knowledge itself is power') occurs in Bacon's "Meditationes Sacrae" (1597). The exact phrase ""scientia potentia est"" was written for the first time in the 1668 version of the work "Leviathan" by Thomas Hobbes, who was secretary to Bacon as a young man. The related
Latin influence in English tribes, who would later give rise to the English language (the Angles, Saxon and Jutes) traded and fought with the Latin speaking Roman Empire. Many words (some originally from Greek) for common objects therefore entered the vocabulary of these Germanic people via Latin even before the tribes reached Britain (what is known as the Continental or Zero Period): "anchor", "butter", "camp", "cheese", "chest", "cook", "copper", "devil", "dish", "fork", "gem", "inch", "kitchen", "mile", "mill", "mint" (coin), "noon", "pillow", "pound" (unit of weight), "punt" (boat), "sack", "street", "wall", "wine". Cognates of virtually all of these English words exist in the other Germanic