The older ending -ism was reshaped to -ithm, commonly explained through association with Greek arithmos “number.”
CANONICAL RELATIONSHIP RECORD
COVERAGE LEDGER ↗EDGE / 0083alterationprobable
A CLAIM
YOU CAN AUDIT.
A relationship—not a generated explanation. Both endpoints, every editorial field, every citation, and every dossier reuse are preserved below.
algorithm
a numeral procedure; later a finite stepwise procedure
OPEN NODE 96 ↗DESCENDS FROM→
PARENT / EARLIER FORM / attestedMiddle English · 14th–15th centuriesalgorisme / augrim
arithmetic using Hindu-Arabic numerals
OPEN NODE 97 ↗01
THE COMPLETE RELATIONSHIP
EVERY FIELD, NOT A FAIRY TALE
Arithmetic or numeral procedure narrowed and generalized into a finite stepwise procedure.
The spelling is reported in 1699; Merriam-Webster dates its currently defined technical sense to 1926.
Merriam-Webster · MacTutor editors
probable — The descent from algorism is secure; the exact force of Greek influence is reported rather than independently demonstrated here.
reviewed
02
CITATION REGISTER
SOURCES ON THIS EDGE
Algorithm — Word HistoryEtymology and First Known Use
supportsAUDIT SOURCE ↗ORIGINAL ↗Algorithm as an alteration of algorism.
Earliest Known Uses of Some of the Words of Mathematics: AALGORITHM entry
supportsAUDIT SOURCE ↗ORIGINAL ↗Reports influence from Greek arithmos.
03
EDITORIAL REUSE