who called psychology "ψ"?

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I've checked the archives, to see if someone has already asked this question, and, as far as I can tell they have not. So here goes:

Hello, I'm wondering if someone out there can help me. My intro psych class wants to know how we have come to use the Greek letter psi (ψ) to stand for Psychology the discipline. I know (from talking with a learned friend)that the term psychology is derived from the Greek word psyche, meaning "soul" (psych-ology ~ the study of the soul), but that the term "psychology" was itself not used until the Europeans started talking about it in the 17th and 18th centuries.

Can anybody tell me when the Greek letter psi (the first letter of psyche) actually came to be associated with "psychology " the word? Does it pre-date "psychology" the discipline?

Yours in the unquenchable thirst, Julie

-- Julie Quinn (jeaquinn@ucalgary.ca), July 12, 2004

Answers

I don't know that there is any "first" person to use psi as an abbreviation for psychology. Back when it was common for university students to know ancient Greek, it would have been an obvious shorthand. Psychology's not alone in this. I've seen philosophers use the Greek letter phi as an abbreviation for their discipline (see, e.g., http://www.apa.udel.edu/apa/index.html).

-- Christopher Green (christo@yorku.ca), July 12, 2004.

You'll find some answers as to the origin of the term psychology in another entry on this webpage at http://hv.greenspun.com/bboard/q- and-a-fetch-msg.tcl?msg_id=005CN2

-- Hendrika Vande Kemp (hendrika@cox.net), July 13, 2004.

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