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Find a modern word—or search sideways through reconstructed roots, historical forms, meanings, languages, scholars, sources, claims, disputes, and witnesses.
012
MODERN ENTRY POINTS
WORD DOSSIERS
nounexact headword
algorism
The older English word for calculation with Hindu-Arabic numerals, transmitted through French and Medieval Latin from the name al-Khwārizmī.
OPEN THE FULL LINEAGE ↗nounhistorical-form prefix
algorithm
A finite or stepwise procedure, descended through medieval arithmetic vocabulary from the Latinized name of al-Khwārizmī.
OPEN THE FULL LINEAGE ↗024
ATTESTED / RECONSTRUCTED / BOUNDARY
HISTORICAL FORMS
●
Present-Day English / Indo-European
algorism
calculation with Hindu-Arabic numerals; an arithmetic rule or procedure
- DATE
- early 13th century–today
- MATCH
- exact historical form
- DOSSIERS
- 1
Old French / Indo-European
algorisme / augorisme
the art of reckoning with Hindu-Arabic numerals
- DATE
- Old French, 12th–14th centuries
- MATCH
- historical-form prefix
- DOSSIERS
- 1
Middle English / Indo-European
algorisme / augrim
arithmetic using Hindu-Arabic numerals
- DATE
- 14th–15th centuries
- MATCH
- historical-form prefix
- DOSSIERS
- 2
Medieval Latin / Indo-European
algorismus
arithmetic; computation with Hindu-Arabic numerals
- DATE
- 12th–15th centuries
- MATCH
- historical-form prefix
- DOSSIERS
- 2
035
WHERE INTERPRETATION IS TESTED
CLAIMS & DISPUTES
SCHOLARLY DISPUTES / 3
openprobableexact word
Does the English record begin in the 13th or 14th century?
The reviewed reports differ. Etymonline gives an early-thirteenth-century algorism; Merriam-Webster gives a fourteenth-century first-known-use horizon.
openprobableexact word
Did English algorism arrive through French or directly from Medieval Latin?
The sources preserve both channels. Merriam-Webster names Middle French and Medieval Latin; Etymonline emphasizes Old French from Medieval Latin.
resolvedestablishedexact word
Was algorithm the original form and algorism a corruption?
No. Algorism is older. Algorithm is the later altered form, with its th commonly explained through Greek arithmos or arithmetic influence.
CONTRARIAN TRUTHS / 2
RANK 73GRADE Aexact ranked word
Algorithm is the altered version; algorism came first.
The word began in al-Khwārizmī's geographic name. Greek arithmos later helped put “th” into algorithm without becoming its ancestor.
RANK 190GRADE Aranked reveal
Algorithm began as a person's geographic name.
Al-Khwārizmī—“the man from Khwārizm”—became Medieval Latin arithmetic, then modern procedure.
042
BOOKS / DICTIONARIES / ARTICLES / DATABASES
SOURCES
052
FIRST USES & HISTORICAL OBJECTS
ATTESTATION WITNESSES
SOURCE REPORTEDlexicographic first use
Merriam-Webster source-reported English record
algorism / algorism / 14th century
Algorism — Word Historyexact attested form / OPEN RECORD ↗SOURCE REPORTEDlexicographic first use
Middle English lexicographic first-use record for algorism
algorisme / augrim / algorithm / 14th century
Algorism — Word Historyattested-form prefix / OPEN RECORD ↗06
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