Sophia

"one who makes use of fallacious arguments," late 15c., from Late Latin sophista, an alternative form of sophistes; the earlier form in English was sophister, sophistre (late 14c.). Latin sophistes is from Greek sophistēs "a master of one's craft; a wise or prudent man, one clever in matters of daily life," from sophizesthai "to become wise or learned," from sophos "skilled in a handicraft, cunning in one's craft; clever in matters of everyday life, shrewd; skilled in the sciences, learned; clever; too clever," a word of unknown origin.

Greek sophistēs came to mean "one who gives intellectual instruction for pay," and at Athens, contrasted with "philosopher," it was a term of contempt.

Sophists taught before the development of logic and grammar, when skill in reasoning and in disputation could not be accurately distinguished, and thus they came to attach great value to quibbles, which soon brought them into contempt. [Century Dictionary]

The "learned man" sense in English is attested from 1610s but is rare.

Bulgarian capital, Roman Serdica, from the Thracian Serdi people who lived thereabouts. Conquered by the Bulgarians 9c. who altered the name by folk-etymology to Sredeti, which in their tongue meant "center, middle." It got its current name 14c. when the Turks conquered it and converted the 6c. church of St. Sophia to a mosque; the name thence was extended to the whole city.