logic

Pronunciation

• IPA: UK /ˈlɒdʒ.ɪk/, US /ˈlɑː.dʒɪk/^[1]

Etymology

It is Middle English logike, borrowed from Old French logique,^[2][3][4] from Late Latin logica,^[3][4] from Ancient Greek λογική (logikḗ), short for logikḗ tékhnē “the art of reasoning”,^[2][3][4] the feminine of λογικός (logikós, “of speech or reasoning”), from λόγος (lógos, “word, reason, idea”) (see Logos),^[2][3] from λέγειν (légein, “to speak”).^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The branch of philosophy that treats of the forms of thinking and of true and false reasoning: 1362 in the OED, before 1378 in Barnhart, in a version of Piers Plowman.^[5][3]

Semantic evolution

A system of logic or a treatise on it is from 1377.^[5] Logical argumentation is from 1601, and a means of proving or convincing, as in the logic of the situation, from 1682.^[5][3] It was formerly written logick, and was sometimes plural like ethics (1637).^[2][5] The system underlying the operations of a computer is from 1950, and compounds such as logic circuit from 1953.^[5][3] In Gloucestershire and Devon dialect, logic meant nonsense or abuse.^[6] Logical is probably from before 1425.^[3]

Timeline

• 1362 – the branch of philosophy.^[5]
• 1377 – a system of logic.^[5]
• 1601 – logical argument.^[5]
• 1682 – a means of proving.^[5]
• 1950 – logic in computing.^[5][3]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. The study of the principles of correct reasoning.
2. A particular way of reasoning, or sound reasoning: there's no logic in that.
3. The relationship between events that seems to make them necessary: the logic of war.
4. (computing) The principles and circuits that carry out logical operations in a computer.

Word family

• logician
• logicless

Related words

• logical
• Logos
• -logy
• prologue
• logo
• legend

References

1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
2. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
4. ^ a b c Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)