Sophy

See also: sophy and -sophy

English

Etymology 1

Ultimately from Ancient Greek; see Sophia.

Proper noun

Sophy

  1. A diminutive of the female given name Sophia.
    • 1749, Henry Fielding, Tom Jones
      I knew Sophy was a good girl, and would not fall in love to make me angry.

Etymology 2

Spelling variation of Sofi, cognate to Italian sofì, Spanish sofí. a. 1535, from Ottoman Turkish صفی‎ (sofi),[1] from Persian صفی‎ (ṣafī, “pure, clear, bright; just, upright, sincere”),[1][2] صفوی‎ (ṣafawī, “a royal surname implying a descendant or successor of Ṣafī”),[3] from Ismail Safavi,[1][3][2] the founder of the dynasty, from Arabic epithet صَافِي الدِين‎ (ṣāfī d-dīn, literally “pure of religion”),[1][2] ultimately from Arabic صَافٍ‎ (ṣāfin, “pure”).[1] Not related to Sufi.[2][4]

Alternative forms

Soffi, Sofi, Sophi, Sophia, Sophie, sophy

Pronunciation
  • (US) IPA(key): /soʊˈfi/

Noun

Sophy (plural Sophies) (historical)

Ismael Sophy, shah of Persia, the eponym of Sophy.
  1. A title of a Safavid dynasty shah. [1501–1736]
    • 1899, Whiteing, Richard, No. 5 John street, New York: Century, OCLC 562645707, page 281:
      The great tent on the lawn, wherein presently we are to sup,—blue and yellow without, and within all braveries of tapestry and of table service,—suggests a state pavilion of the Sophy camped for glittering war.
    • For more examples of usage of this term, see Citations:Sophy.

Usage notes

The title was replaced by the generic term shah.[5]

References
  1. "Sophy", in Garland Cannon, Alan S, Kaye, eds., The Persian contributions to the English language : an historical dictionary, Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 2001, p. 137. →ISBN.
  2. Walter W. Skeat, editor (1910), “Sophy”, in An Etymological Dictionary of the English Language, new edition, Oxford: The Clarendon Press, OCLC 582746570, page 582.
  3. Charles A. M. Fennell, editor (1892), “sophy”, in The Stanford Dictionary of Anglicised Words and Phrases, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, OCLC 670193402, page 734.
  4. Roger Savory (1980) Iran under the Safavids, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, published 2007, →ISBN, page 259: “The Safavid shahs were commonly termed by Western writers "Sophie", "Sophy", "Sophi" or "Soffi". All these terms were probably corruptions of Ṣafī, the name of the founder of the Safavid Order, rather than of Ṣūfī, as the Safavid supporters called themselves.”
  5. "sophi", in The Century Dictionary, New York: The Century, 1914, v. 9, p. 5772.

Anagrams
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