Philosophy carries the ph of Greek phi twice over, which makes it about as legibly Greek as an English word gets. It is philo-, "loving," plus sophia, "wisdom, knowledge" — the love of wisdom. English took it about 1300 through Old French filosofie, and Middle English spelled it every way imaginable, filozofie and phelosophie among them, before the classicising ph won out in both positions.
The scope of the word has narrowed enormously. In the Middle Ages philosophy covered all speculative knowledge: from the mid-1300s the discipline of rational contemplation, but from the late 1300s also natural science, and alchemy, and occult knowledge generally. That is why Newton's book on physics is called Principles of Natural Philosophy, and why a philosopher's stone is an alchemical object. The modern restriction to a specific academic discipline is comparatively recent.
philosophy (n.) c. 1300, philosophie , "knowledge, learning, scholarship, scholarly works, body of knowledge," from Old French filosofie "philosophy, knowledge" (12c., Modern French philosophie ) and directly from Latin philosophia, from Greek philosophia "love of knowledge, pursuit of wisdom; systematic investigation," from philo- "loving" (see philo- ) + sophia "knowledge, wisdom," from sophis "wise, learned;" a word of unknown origin [Beekes]. With many spelling variants in Middle English ( filozofie, phelosophie , etc.). From mid-14c. as "the discipline of dealing in rational speculation or contemplation;" from late 14c. as "natural science," also "alchemy, occult knowledge;" in the Middle Ages the word was understood to embrace all speculative sciences. The meaning "system a person forms for conduct of life" is attested from 1771. The modern sense of "the body of highest truth, the science of the most fundamental matters" is from 1794. Nec quicquam aliud est philosophia, si interpretari velis, praeter studium sapientiae; sapientia autem est rerum divinarum et humanarum causarumque quibus eae res continentur scientia. [Cicero, "De Officiis" ] In 1744 he made an unsuccessful attempt to obtain a professorship at Edinburgh; having failed in this, he became first a tutor to a lunatic and then secretary to a general. Fortified by these credentials, he ventured again into philosophy. [Bertrand Russell, writing of Hume, in "A History of Western Philosophy," 1945] [Philosophical problems] are, of course, not empirical problems; but they are solved through an insight into the workings of our language, and that in such a way that these workings are recognized — despite an urge to misunderstand them. The problems are solved, not through the contribution of new knowledge, rather through the arrangement of things long familiar. Philosophy is a struggle against the bewitchment ( Verhexung ) of our understanding by the resources of our language. [Ludwig Wittgenstein, "Philosophical Investigations," 1953] also from c. 1300
philosophy came in through Greek, and its spelling follows that family's conventions.
How that family writes these sounds
| /f/ | ph, transliterating φ. English had a perfectly good f and pointedly didn't use itphotograph, philosophy, sphere, amphibian |
What gives it away on the page
| ph | Transliterates φ. English had a perfectly good f and didn't use it — that's the tell.photograph, philosophy, sphere, amphibian |