academe

See also: Academe

English

Alternative forms

• Academe

Etymology

From New Latin academia, from Ancient Greek Ἀκαδημία (Akadēmía); Doublet of academy. Academe (frequently capitalized) is a poetic name for the garden or grove near ancient Athens where Plato taught, supposedly named for its former owner, the hero Ἀκάδημος (Akademos; Ἑκάδημος, Hekademos).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈæk.ə.diːm/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈæk.əˌdim/
• Rhymes: -iːm

Noun

academe (plural academes)

1. (historical) The garden in Athens where the academics met. [from late 16th c.]^[1]
2. (poetic) An academy; a place of learning. [from late 16th c.]^[1]

   Synonym: academy

   • 1603, William Shakespeare, Love's Labour's Lost:

     Navarre shall be the wonder of the world; / Our court shall be a little Academe,/ Still and contemplative in living art.

3. (poetic) The scholarly life, environment, or community. [from mid 19th c.]^[1]

   Synonym: academia

   • 1983 December 3, Michael Bronski, “Homosexuality: Social, Psychological and Biological Issues (review)”, in Gay Community News, volume 11, number 20, page 10:

     If it did nothing else, Homosexuality: Social, Psychological, and Biological Issues shows that the basic tenet of gay liberation—that is, viewing gayness as having an intrinsic validity—has finally entered and taken root in the groves of academe.

   • 1997, Haruki Murakami, translated by Jay Rubin, The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, New York: Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.; republished New York: Vintage Books, 1998, →ISBN, page 74:

     His father expected him to enter the government or a major corporation upon graduation from the university, but Noboru Wataya chose to remain in academe and become a scholar.

4. A senior member of the staff at an institution of higher learning; pedant. [from mid 20th c.]^[1]

   Synonym: pedant

Usage notes

• Poetic references are often to “the groves of Academe”, a translation of Horace’s inter silvas Academi.^[2][3]

Derived terms

• academese

Related terms

• Akademeia
• academia
• academy

References

1. Brown, Lesley, ed. The Shorter Oxford English Dictionary. 5th. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2003.