Etymologically
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mathematics

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Pronunciation

  • IPA: /mæθ(.ə)ˈmæt.ɪks/ (UK); /mæθ(.ə)ˈmæt.ɪks/ (US)[1]

Etymology

It is the plural of Middle English methametik, mathematik (see mathematic),[2][3][4] probably after French (les) mathématiques,[5][6] from Latin mathematica, from Greek μαθηματικὴ τέχνη (mathēmatikḕ tékhnē, “mathematical science”),[2][7] from μάθημα (máthēma, “something learned; knowledge”), from μανθάνω (manthánein, “to learn”).[2][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The science of quantity: 1581 in the OED and Barnhart, the 1580s in Etymonline.[8][2][3] The singular methametik is from before 1387, in Trevisa.[2]

Semantic evolution

Word Origins notes that the word took its final -s later, on the pattern of physics.[4] It was originally one of the three branches of Aristotelian theoretical science, with first philosophy (metaphysics) and physics.[3] Originally the collective name for geometry, arithmetic and certain physical sciences such as astronomy and optics, it later took in other branches using mathematical methods.[8] The abbreviations maths (British) and math (American) are later.[9][10]

Timeline

  • before 1387 – methametik.[2]
  • 1581 – mathematics.[8][2]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. (used with a singular verb) The abstract science of number, quantity and space, including arithmetic, algebra and geometry.
  2. (used with a plural verb) The mathematical aspects of something: the mathematics of the problem.

Word family

  • biomathematics
  • math
  • maths
  • metamathematics
  • mathematical
  • mathematician
  • polymath

References

  1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  3. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ a b c Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  5. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  6. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  7. ^ Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  8. ^ a b c Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  9. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
  10. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins