Scientia potentia est phrase ""sapientia est potentia"" is often translated as "wisdom is power". The earliest documented occurrence of the phrase "Knowledge is power" is from Imam Ali (599-661 CE), as recorded in the tenth-century book Nahj Al-Balagha (originally in Arabic). He said: Another account of this concept is found in the Shahnameh by the Persian poet Ferdowsi (940–1020 CE) who wrote: "Capable is he who is wise" (in Persian: توانا بود هر که دانا بود). This hemistich is translated to English as "knowledge is power" or "One who has wisdom is powerful". A proverb in practically the same wording is found in
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