Through etymology, the historical study of words and their origin, it can be deduced that the word science comes from the Latin, scientia meaning knowledge.
In philosophical terms, science, taken from the Greek word epistemē, meant a reliable knowledge built up through logical ideas.
In contrast to modern science, ancient Greek philosophers such as Aristotle, used science to derive theoretical conclusions from raw data, and did not treat the experience of experimenting as part of scientific investigation.
Science only came to mean the discipline of building an accurate picture of the world through experiment, during a period in the eighteenth century known as the Enlightenment, or the Age of Reason.
A cultural movement of intellectuals seen throughout Europe, the Age of Enlightenment sought to mobilize the power of reason in order to reform society and advance knowledge. It promoted intellectual interchange and opposed intolerance and abuses in both the Church and state.
An Influential physicist and mathematician from the time is Sir Isaac Newton(1642-1727), whose theory of universal gravitation, and the three laws of motion, are symbolic of the period.
The letters combined to make the word 'science' each reflect a particular phoneme, either as it exists now or did once in the past.
In a language or dialect, a phoneme is the smallest unit of sound employed to form meaningful contrasts between utterances. For example the individual letters of, S-C-I-E-N-C-E, each represent a particular phoneme.
