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Topic: Knowledge

Today is Freedom of Information Day. Freedom of Information Day is celebrated on the weekday closest to March 16th, the birthday of James Madison, father of the Bill of Rights. James Madison is also the person credited with creating the First Amendment, which guarantees freedom of religion, of speech, and of the press, and which grants citizens the right to peaceable assembly.

James Madison observed "Knowledge will forever govern ignorance, and a people who mean to be their own governors must arm themselves with the power which knowledge gives."

To Madison, knowledge was information. Today we throw open the books on knowledge and share some long-ago information about that term.

Although we moderns consider knowledge a noun, back in the days of Middle and Early Modern English, knowledge was a verb. Over time, before it faded from usage in the 1600s, knowledge functioned as a transitive verb meaning both "acknowledge" and "to recognize, admit, or confess the fact or truth of (something)." For instance, a person might knowledge the idea that some folks believe openness in governmental decision-making is a good thing, while others aren't as quick to knowledge the idea.

Questions or comments? Write us at wftw@aol.com Production and research support for Word for the Wise comes from Merriam-Webster, publisher of language reference books and Web sites including Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary, Eleventh Edition.