The Meaning of History
The English word History is derived from the Greek word iotopia which means learning. As
used by Greek Philosopher Aristotle, history meant a systematics account of a set of natural
phenomena, whether chronological ordering was a factor in the account. In the course of
time, however, the equivalent Latin word scientia came to be used regularly to designate
non-chronological systematic accounts of natural phenomenon and the word history was
reserved usually for accounts of phenomena, especially human affairs, in chronological
order.
By its most common definition, the word history now means “the past of mankind”.
Compare the German word for history – Geschichte, which is derived from geschechen,
meaning to happen. Geschichte is that which has happened. This meaning of the word
history is often encountered in such overworked phrases as “all history teaches” or “the
lessons of history.” This means that history depicting everything that has happened is
otherwise known as history – as – actuality.
History as a Reconstruction
Unfortunately, most of that which happened in the past, especially on the ancient, we no
longer have any evidence, we do not even have the artifacts. As history relies only on
surviving records, this is the challenge that history faces. As most human affairs happen
without leaving vestiges and traces, or records of any kind behind them. The past, having
happened, has perished forever with only but occasional traces.
To begin with, although the absolute number of historical writings is staggering, only a small
part of what happened in the past was ever observed. How much for example, of what you
do, say, or think is ever observed by anyone, including yourself? Only the minimum.
And the challenge lies to the fact that only a part of what was observed in the past was
remembered by those who observed it; only a part of what was remembered was recorded;
only a part of what was recorded has survived; only a part of what has survived has come to
the historian’s attention; and only a part of what has come to the historian’s attention is
credible; only a part of what is credible has been grasped; and only a part of what has been
grasped can be expounded or narrated by historian. This is the reconstruction of history
(Figure 1), or otherwise known as the history-as-record.
Pm1.1.jpg
Figure 1 History as Reconstruction Showing the role of historians in trying to reconstruct the
history as an event and history as an account.
In short, the historian’s aim is verisimilitude. This means that the historian tries to get as
close an approximation to the truth about the past as how it really happened but
understanding that he can never perfectly reconstruct how the past happened. The historian
and other history scholars try to attach the detached and scattered remains of the pasts, and
endeavors to reconstruct the past as much as perfect and concise as he can. Therefore then,
the way to achieve the most concise reconstruction of that past is by way of examining the
evidence and artifacts, and this is referred to as the Historical Method.
