释义 |
‖ savant|savɑ̃| Also † sçavant, savan. [Fr.; subst. use of savant adj., orig. pr. pple. (synon. with sachant, now the only form in this use) of savoir to know:—popular L. *sapēre = class. L. sapĕre to be wise: cf. sapient. The misapprehension of the obs. Fr. spelling savans of the plural has given rise in Eng. to the incorrect form savan.] A man of learning or science; esp. one professionally engaged in learned or scientific research.
1719F. Hauksbee Phys. Mech. Exper. v. 225 [He] made a Report thereof to the Royal Academy of Sciences of France; and, upon his return home, those Scavans thought it worth their while to re-examine the matter. 1750Chesterfield Let. to Son 24 May, At Paris..you will find a cargo of letters, to very different sorts of people, as beaux esprits, sçavants, et belles dames. 1765H. Walpole Let. to G. Montagu 22 Sept., I dined to-day with a dozen savans. 1805Edin. Rev. VII. 232 On one of these occasions, the savants in waiting were Quintus Icilius and Thiebault. 1848E. FitzGerald Lett. (1889) I. 189, I saw Alfred [Tennyson], and the rest of the sçavans. 1864Chamb. Encycl. s.v. Manzoni, His mother [being] the gifted daughter of the great savan, the Marquis Beccaria. 1874Sidgwick Meth. Ethics iii. v. 263 How shall we compare..the service of the savant who discovers a new principle with that of the inventor who applies it? |