“Pythagoras was the first to be called a philosopher. When he visited Phlius, king Leon asked of his profession. He answered that he was a philosopher, a friend of wisdom, adding that the appellation Sage or Wise belonged only to the Divinity. He was also the first to claim that the earth was round, spherical, according to Favorinus, who also informs us that he used definitions in the subject of mathematics. Their use was extended by Socrates and his disciples, and by Aristotle and the Stoics. He was, too, the first who called heaven the universe.” (The Greek Origin of Freemasonry, 1956, 2nd edition, p. 132)
So, Pythagoras invented the term “philosopher” which does not necessarily mean that he was the first to consider himself “a friend of wisdom”. However, he used the word to describe his profession, so he was the first to use the term as someone’s vocation in life. He was the first to do many things as is evidenced by the information in the previous paragraph.
Helen
