sapientia

Sapientia is a Latin noun meaning wisdom, discernment, or prudence, derived from the adjective sapiens (“wise”). It is feminine in gender and is commonly translated as wisdom. The term also appears in modern names and phrases, such as La Sapienza, the Italian name of the University of Rome, literally “the Wisdom.”

In classical Latin, sapientia denotes a virtue of deep understanding and sound judgment, often associated with prudentia (prudence) and contrasted with scientia (knowledge). In moral philosophy and political theory, sapientia can signify a form of wisdom that integrates knowledge with ethical discernment. In late antiquity and the medieval Christian world, sapientia is frequently used to denote divine wisdom and to translate the Greek Sophia.

Scholastic and theological writers sometimes treated sapientia as a transcendent or divine wisdom that orders creation, distinguishing it from scientia as epistemic knowledge about things. The term also occurs in discussions of sapiential literature, a designation for writings that teach wisdom, including biblical and related apocryphal or deuterocanonical texts.

In contemporary usage, sapientia remains largely literary or ecclesiastical. It appears in Latin inscriptions, in mottos, and in institutional names that evoke wisdom. Related concepts include wisdom, sapience, and the sapiential.