663: sagacious and sage Oct 1, 2016

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Someone who is sagacious has keen judgement, but despite the similarity in form and meaning, it is not derived from the word 'sage'; really, the two words have very little in common. 'Sagacious' comes from the Latin, 'sagire' meaning 'to perceive keenly', and is related to a word which eventually gave English, 'seek'. 'Sage' on the other hand, comes from a Latin verb 'sapere', which is sometimes translated as 'to be wise', but closer to its literal sense would be 'to taste' implying that someone with good taste would sagaciously be wise.

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