statistics

Pronunciation

• IPA: /stəˈtɪs.tɪks/^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from German Statistik,^[2][3][4] with the English plural -s,^[4] from New Latin statisticum (collegium), “(lecture course on) state affairs”,^[2][3] from Italian statista “one skilled in statecraft”,^[2][3] from status (“station, position, condition; public order”),^[3][2] from the stem of stare “to stand”, from Proto-Indo-European *sta- (“to stand”).^[3] The German word was popularized, and perhaps coined, by Gottfried Achenwall in 1748;^[3][2] the OED notes that he did not seem to regard it as new.^[3] Sir John Sinclair is credited with bringing it into English use.^[3] It is related to state and statistic.^[2][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

1770, as the branch of political science dealing with data about the condition of a state or community.^[2][3][6]

Semantic evolution

Numerical data of any kind, collected and classified, is from 1829,^[3][2] 1837 in the OED, construed as a plural;^[6] from this came the study of any subject by means of large enumerations.^[3] Vital statistics is from 1829,^[6] and in colloquial use a woman's bust, waist and hip measurements from 1958.^[6] In physics, the statistical description of particles is from 1873.^[6] Statistical is from 1787 and statistician from 1825.^[2] The short form stats is from 1961.^[3]

Timeline

• 1748 – German Statistik, Achenwall.^[3][2]
• 1770 – a branch of political science.^[2][3][6]
• 1787 – statistical.^[2]
• 1825 – statistician.^[2]
• 1829 – numerical data, and vital statistics.^[3][6]
• 1873 – in physics.^[6]
• 1961 – stats.^[3]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. The mathematics of collecting, organizing and interpreting numerical data, especially for inferring the characteristics of a population from a sample.
2. Numerical data collected and classified.

Word family

• biostatistics
• lexicostatistics
• statistician
• Bose-Einstein statistics
• Fermi-Dirac statistics
• vital statistics

Related words

• statistic
• statistical
• state
• status

Usage notes

In the sense of the science, statistics takes a singular verb; in the sense of data, a plural one.^[7][5]

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b c d e f g h Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster