one who, with only a superficial knowledge or a smattering of knowledge on any particular subject, claims or pretends to a complete or profound learning. The Lat. sciolus, a diminutive of scius, learned, from scire, to know, is only found in post-classical times, e.g. Hieronymus, A.D. 420, Epist. 48.18. It first appears in English at the beginning of the 17th century.