Glossary entry

English term or phrase:

apologia, apology, apologie

English answer:

yes, there is a difference between apologia (apologie) and apology

Added to glossary by Carol C.W. CHUNG
Mar 16, 2005 07:38
19 yrs ago
9 viewers *
English term

apologia, apology, apologie

English Art/Literary Linguistics
what's the difference in meaning between "apologia" (this is a greek term), "apology" (as the Apology of Socrates), "apologie" (as William the Silent's Apologie)?

Thank you!

Discussion

Non-ProZ.com Mar 19, 2005:
i don't think apologia is only written. Edward Kennedy's Chappaquiddick speech was an apologia to defend himself against accusations regarding the car accident and his sexual affiliation with Mary Jo.
Jonathan MacKerron Mar 16, 2005:
an apologia is written, an apology not necessarily
Non-ProZ.com Mar 16, 2005:
so is there no difference between in meaning between apologia and apology? (by "apology" i refer to its formal sense)
Non-ProZ.com Mar 16, 2005:
or is there any difference?

Responses

+2
37 mins
Selected

yes, there is a difference between apologia (apologie) and apology

Apologia, apologie = a reasoned defence of one’s opinion, beliefs or conduct
Apology = expression of guilt or remorse + all the other similar meanings listed in dictionaries
The original meaning of the Greek “APOLOGIA” was “to defend one’s opinion or conduct”, or “self-justification”. “APOLOGY” first appeared in the 16th century in the English language (see below), but it soon acquired the meaning of “regret” or “remorse”. In order to remedy this, “apologia” was reintroduced in the 18th century.
“APOLOGIE” was an archaic spelling of the word, possibly borrowed from French (quite common practice in those days).

“The meaning of apology has evolved a good deal since its first appearance in the sixteenth century (the first use recorded in the OED is in the title Apologie of Syr Thomas More, Knyght; made by him, after he had geuen ouer the Office of Lord Chancellor of Englande, dated 1533). In this Sir Thomas More was not regretting his actions: he was seeking to justify himself and to defend himself from accusations. Another example is An Apology for the Life of Mr Colley Cibber (Comedian) in 1740 by the English actor-manager who was answering his critic Alexander Pope with details of his life’s achievements; here the word is a pun on the older sense and our modern one, it being a fake apology which is actually a justification. A century later, Cardinal Newman wrote “Apologies for various of the great doctrines of the faith” and Samuel Butler coined this little squib in 1912:
Apology for the Devil: It must be remembered that we have only heard one side of the case. God has written all the books.
in which apology has this original sense of a defence of one’s opinions or conduct and not an expression of guilt or remorse. All these look odd to us today, though the sense is not yet entirely obsolete.
This meaning comes directly from the Greek apologia, a derivative of a word meaning “to speak in one’s defence”, ultimately from the prefix apo-, “away; off” (which turns up at the start of lots of English words, such as apogee for the point in an orbit furthest from the orbited body, and in the Biblical Apocrypha, which means books “hidden away”) together with logos, “speech” (from which we get our word logic). From this Greek original, it entered English either through French or Latin.
It was quite soon after its first appearance that the meaning of apology began to shift away from self-justification towards implying regret. This change seems to have occurred in two stages. Firstly, it was used to describe the process of excusing oneself from the wrath of a person affected by one’s actions with the explanation that no offence was intended, a sense of modified self-justification which again is still found today. Then the use moved further to acknowledge that some offence had in fact been given and to express regret—exactly our main modern sense. The first example turns up in that unique recorder of Elizabethan English, William Shakespeare (in Richard III).
So much did the sense change that English eventually required a new word to express the original meaning. In the eighteenth century the Latin intermediary, apologia (/ /) was borrowed again, though it only gained widespread acceptance after Cardinal Newman used it in 1864 in the title of his famous work Apologia pro Vita Sua, “A defence of his life”, in response to Charles Kingsley’s attacks on his religious convictions.”
http://www.worldwidewords.org/topicalwords/tw-apo1.htm
Peer comment(s):

agree Tony M : Very well said; the reason for the French spelling is probably because French was the language of cultivated people in England until quite late on!
1 hr
Thank you, Dusty!
agree Kirill Semenov
1 day 12 hrs
Thank you, Kirill!
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4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer. Comment: "the etymological explanation you gave let me see how apology acquired its new meaning. Also thanks to everybody!"
+2
7 mins

Webster =

apologia "a written defence or justification of the opinions or conduct of a writer, speaker, etc"
apology " something said or written in defense or justification of what appears to others to be wrong or of what may be liable to disapprobation"
apologie = doesn't exist in English as such

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Note added at 10 mins (2005-03-16 07:48:31 GMT)
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OED does not recoginize the spelling apologie, any appearances in English are probably taken directly from the French

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Note added at 17 mins (2005-03-16 07:55:33 GMT)
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Milton = \"To him she hasted, in her face excuse
Came Prologue, and Apologie to prompt,
Which with bland words at will she thus addrest.\"
Peer comment(s):

agree Laurel Porter (X)
1 hr
agree Madeleine MacRae Klintebo
1 hr
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15 mins

roots

In addition to the above answer:

if you look at the etymology of the most commonly used word of those three, apology, you'll notice that "apologia" is a late Latin word, and apo+logos is Greek. Apologie comes from Middle French.

I've also found no example of the word "apologie" used in modern English.

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Note added at 16 mins (2005-03-16 07:54:54 GMT)
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\"above answer\" refers to the first answer :)

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Note added at 43 mins (2005-03-16 08:21:11 GMT)
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I found another source which lists apologia as both Greek and late Latin word
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+2
11 mins

See comment below...

OED defines 'apologia' as:

A written defence of one’s opinions or conduct.

...in other words, a fairly formal thing; the term is often used in literary etc. circles, to mean a sort of justification for something that may be philosophical or otherwise quite abstract.

An 'apology' is the general, everday word, and although it can be used in the same sense as 'apologia', the latter is usually preferred for those specific contexts where a more erudite term is required.

Here is part of the OED definition for 'apology':
1 A formal defence or vindication against an (actual or potential) accusation or imputation.
2 A justification, an explanation, an excuse.
3 A frank acknowledgement of fault or failure, given by way of reparation; an explanation that no offence was intended, with regret for any given or taken. L16.

IMO, 'apologie' is just an archaic English spelling for either word, as would be appropriate for the period work you mention


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Note added at 2 hrs 13 mins (2005-03-16 09:51:35 GMT)
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Carol, apologia is very often used in literary senses, like titles of books / treatises etc., though its use is not strictly limited to those.
A politician may make an apology for having insulted his esteemed colleague; but he may publish an apologia explaining why he thinks the opposition party is useless!
Peer comment(s):

agree Laurel Porter (X) : Dusty, yours seems to me to be the more complete, but Jonathan's was first, so I'm splitting my vote! :-)
1 hr
Thanks, Laurel! Only 'cos he types afster than me ;-)
agree Madeleine MacRae Klintebo
1 hr
Thanks, Madeleine!
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