Etymologically
Log in

logic

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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
  • 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)