anthroposophy

English

Etymology

anthropo- +‎ -sophy, from a Renaissance Latin anthroposophia (attested in Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa, d. 1535, and Thomas Vaughan, d. 1666), popularized from the 1910s via German Anthroposophie (Rudolf Steiner, 1861–1925).

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˌænθɹəˈpɑsəfi/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˌænθɹəˈpɒsəfi/

Noun

anthroposophy (uncountable)

1. (archaic, as used before Rudolf Steiner) Knowledge or understanding of human nature.
2. A spiritual movement inaugurated by Rudolf Steiner (also capitalized as Anthroposophy), postulating the existence of an objective, intellectually comprehensible spiritual world accessible to direct experience through inner development.
   • 1975, Saul Bellow, Humboldt's Gift [Avon ed., 1976, p. 223]:

     Anthroposophy was having definite effects. I couldn't take any of this to heart. Other-worldliness tinged it all and every little while my spirit seemed to dissociate itself.

Derived terms

• anthroposophic
• anthroposophist

Translations

spiritual movement

• Catalan: antroposofia f
• Danish: antroposofi c
• Dutch: antroposofie (nl) f
• Esperanto: antropozofio
• Estonian: antroposoofia
• Finnish: antroposofia
• German: Anthroposophie (de) f
• Hungarian: antropozófia (hu)
• Irish: antrapasúnacht f
• Italian: antroposofia f
• Khmer: នរបញ្ញា (neak rak panh nhar)
• Latin: anthroposophia f
• Latvian: antropozofija f
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: antroposofi m

  Nynorsk: antroposofi m

• Polish: antropozofia (pl) f
• Portuguese: antroposofia (pt) f, antropossofia f
• Romanian: antropozofie (ro)
• Russian: антропосо́фия (ru) f (antroposófija)
• Slovak: antropozofia f
• Slovene: antropozofija f
• Spanish: antroposofía (es) f
• Swedish: antroposofi (sv) c
• Turkish: antropozofi
• Ukrainian: антропосо́фія f (antroposófija)
• West Frisian: antroposofy c