From barbā (“beard”, abl.sg.) + tenus (“as far as”, postp.) sapiēns (“discerning, wise”, adj.), i.e. 'wise only as far as the beard, merely cultivating an appearance of wisdom'. From Erasmus' Adagia, translating Ancient Greek ἐκ πώγωνος σοφοί, καὶ ἀπὸ πώγωνος φιλόσοφοι (ek pṓgōnos sophoí, kaì apò pṓgōnos philósophoi), part of a rich earlier tradition of similar sayings in reference to the beard conferring the image of a philosopher, specifically a Stoic one. Cf. sapientem pāscere barbam (“to grow a beard of wisdom”) (Horace), barba nōn facit philosophum (“a beard doesn't make you a philosopher”).
barbā tenus sapiēns m or f (genitive barbā tenus sapientis); third declension
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