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Article ID: CBB778994997

How to 'Be Expert' in Early Modern Europe (2022)

Rankin, Alisha (Author)

Historical Studies in the Natural Sciences
Volume: 52
Issue: 1
Pages: 143-146
Publication date: 2022
Language: English

URI: https://doi.org/10.1525/hsns.2022.52.1.143

DOI: 10.1525/hsns.2022.52.1.143

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Participation Observation Experiments and experimentation Experience; witness Authorities; experts Expertise Early modern Medieval

Being “an expert” is a relatively recent phenomenon; it came into common use only in the nineteenth century.1 In medieval and early modern Europe, one was not “an” expert, a noun embodying a person, so much as one was “expert,” an adjective that suggested active participation in something. “Expert” came from the same Latin root, the verb experiri, as the words “experience” and “experiment.” The phrase expertus sum literally meant “I experienced” but often indicated something more along the lines of “I know from experience” or “I know from trying it out.” It implied an act—whether observing a phenomenon or provoking one.2

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Article Henry M. Cowles; Chitra Ramalingam (2022) Introduction. Historical Studies in the Natural Sciences (pp. 118-119). unapi

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