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THE GRAPH.
Find a modern word—or search sideways through reconstructed roots, historical forms, meanings, languages, scholars, sources, claims, disputes, and witnesses.
014
MODERN ENTRY POINTS
WORD DOSSIERS
noun · adjectiveexact headword
arithmetic
The art or practice of counting and calculation; transmitted from Greek arithmos “number” through Latin and French.
OPEN THE FULL LINEAGE ↗nouncontrarian claim
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 ↗noundossier summary
algorithm
A finite or stepwise procedure, descended through medieval arithmetic vocabulary from the Latinized name of al-Khwārizmī.
OPEN THE FULL LINEAGE ↗nounhistorical form
calculator
A person or device that calculates, inherited from a medieval human-reckoner word and the Latin counting-pebble family.
OPEN THE FULL LINEAGE ↗029
ATTESTED / RECONSTRUCTED / BOUNDARY
HISTORICAL FORMS
●
Present-Day English / Indo-European
arithmetic
the art, practice, or branch of mathematics concerned with numbers and calculation
- DATE
- mid-13th century–today
- MATCH
- exact historical form
- DOSSIERS
- 1
Latin / Indo-European
arithmetica
arithmetic; the counting discipline
- DATE
- Latin antiquity and medieval scholarship
- MATCH
- historical-form prefix
- DOSSIERS
- 1
Present-Day English / Indo-European
algorism
calculation with Hindu-Arabic numerals; an arithmetic rule or procedure
- DATE
- early 13th century–today
- MATCH
- gloss
- DOSSIERS
- 1
Middle English / Indo-European
algorisme / augrim
arithmetic using Hindu-Arabic numerals
- DATE
- 14th–15th centuries
- MATCH
- gloss
- DOSSIERS
- 2
Medieval Latin / Indo-European
algorismus
arithmetic; computation with Hindu-Arabic numerals
- DATE
- 12th–15th centuries
- MATCH
- gloss
- DOSSIERS
- 2
Middle English / Indo-European
arsmetike / arsmetrik
arithmetic or the art of computation
- DATE
- Middle English, mid-13th–15th century
- MATCH
- gloss
- DOSSIERS
- 1
Old French / Indo-European
arsmetique / arismatike
arithmetic or reckoning
- DATE
- Old French and Anglo-French, 12th century onward
- MATCH
- gloss
- DOSSIERS
- 1
Latin / Indo-European
calculātor
a teacher of arithmetic; a calculating person
- DATE
- Latin antiquity and Late Latin
- MATCH
- gloss
- DOSSIERS
- 1
Ancient Greek / Indo-European
ἀριθμητική (τέχνη)
arithmētikē (tekhnē)the counting art; arithmetic
- DATE
- Ancient Greek
- MATCH
- gloss
- DOSSIERS
- 1
038
WHERE INTERPRETATION IS TESTED
CLAIMS & DISPUTES
SCHOLARLY DISPUTES / 5
openprobableexact word
Does the English record begin in the 13th or 15th century?
The reviewed source reports differ. Etymonline gives mid-thirteenth-century arsmetike; Merriam-Webster gives a fifteenth-century first-known-use horizon.
openproposedexact word
Is the deepest counting root *h₂rei- or *erei-dhmo- from *re-?
The references use different levels and notations: Merriam-Webster derives the Greek base through *h₂rei-, while Etymonline prints an expanded *erei-dhmo- formation tied to *re-.
resolvedestablishedexact word
Are arithmetic and algorithm cognates?
No. Arithmetic descends through Greek arithmos “number.” Algorithm descends from al-Khwārizmī's name; arithmos influenced the later spelling rather than supplying the ancestor.
resolvedestablishedposition text
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.
resolvedestablishedposition text
Does the word commemorate an abstract concept or a person?
It ultimately reflects a geographic personal name, “the Khwārizmian,” which became attached to transmitted arithmetic.
CONTRARIAN TRUTHS / 3
RANK 14GRADE Aexact ranked word
Arithmetic put the “ithm” into algorithm without becoming its ancestor.
Arithmetic carries Greek arithmos “number.” Algorithm carries al-Khwārizmī's name; arithmos influenced its spelling, not its genealogy.
RANK 185GRADE Aranked reveal
A calculator was a person before it was a device.
Middle English calkelatour named someone who counted or computed. The machine later inherited the human arithmetic agent's title.
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
arithmetic / arithmetic / 15th century
Arithmetic — Definition, Word History, and First Known Useexact attested form / OPEN RECORD ↗SOURCE REPORTEDlexicographic first use
Merriam-Webster source-reported English record
algorism / algorism / 14th century
Algorism — Word Historywitness excerpt / OPEN RECORD ↗06
SEARCH IS DISCOVERY, NOT PROOF
EVERY RESULT OPENS A PERMANENT EVIDENCE RECORD.
Matching text only locates a record. It does not raise confidence, settle a dispute, establish cognacy, or turn a source report into direct inspection. Follow the result into its citations and editorial limits.