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μαθηματικός

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Etymology and origin of the Ancient Greek word μαθηματικός

Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
400–300 BC Plato
Ultimate origin
Ancient Greek μάθημα
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
Ancient Greek μαθηματικός
Latin mathematicus
From the same root
English mathematical ← mathematicus

Pronunciation

  • 5th-century BC Attic: /ma.tʰɛː.ma.ti.kós/[1]
  • 4th-century AD Koine: /ma.θi.ma.tiˈkos/[1]
  • 10th-century Byzantine: /ma.θi.ma.tiˈkos/[1]

Forms

μᾰθημᾰτῐκός (mathēmatikós) m (feminine μᾰθημᾰτῐκή, neuter μᾰθημᾰτῐκόν); first/second declension[1]

Etymology

From μάθημα (máthēma, “lesson, learning”) and the adjective suffix -ικός (-ikós).[1][2] It comes from μανθάνω (manthánō, “to learn”).[2][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Plato is the first to use it: in the Timaeus it means fond of learning, and in the Sophist scientific.[4][5]

Semantic evolution

Plato used μάθημα, plural μαθήματα, for the branches of learning, above all arithmetic, geometry and astronomy, and Aristotle made μαθηματικός the usual word for “mathematical”: the noun means a mathematician, ἡ μαθηματική and τὰ μαθηματικά mathematics, and τὰ μαθηματικά also mathematical entities such as numbers and lines.[4][5][2]

Because the study of mathematics included the study of the heavens, the word also meant astronomical,[4] and Marcus Aurelius and Sextus Empiricus use the noun for an astrologer.[4][3] Among the Pythagoreans the μαθηματικοί were one group of disciples, opposed to the ἀκουσματικοί.[4] Latin borrowed the word as Latin mathematicus, with both senses.[6]

Medieval Greek also used it for learned and skilled people and for an astronomer.[7] In Modern Greek μαθηματικός (mathimatikós) means mathematical, and as a noun a mathematician or a mathematics teacher.[8]

Timeline

  • 5th–4th century BC – Plato uses it for fond of learning and for scientific.[4][5]
  • 4th century BC – Aristotle uses it for mathematical, and the noun for a mathematician.[4][5]
  • 2nd century AD – Marcus Aurelius uses the noun for an astrologer.[4][3]
  • Modern Greek – The word means mathematical and a mathematician.[8]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Fond of learning.[4][5]
  2. Scientific; especially mathematical.[4][5]
  3. Astronomical; astrological.[4]

Noun

  1. A mathematician.[4][5]
  2. (late) An astrologer.[4][3]
  3. ἡ μαθηματική, τὰ μαθηματικά: mathematics; τὰ μαθηματικά also mathematical entities.[4][5]

Word family

  • μαθηματικῶς (mathēmatikôs)

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c Babiniotis, Georgios (2010), Ετυμολογικό λεξικό της νέας ελληνικής γλώσσας [Etymological Dictionary of Modern Greek], Athens: Κέντρο Λεξικολογίας
  3. ^ a b c d Bauer, Walter; Danker, Frederick W., et al. (2000), A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature, 3rd ed., Chicago: University of Chicago Press
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
  6. ^ Saalfeld, Günther Alexander (1874), Index Graecorum vocabulorum in linguam latinam translatorum, Berlin: Weidmann
  7. ^ Kriaras, Emmanuel, Επιτομή του Λεξικού της μεσαιωνικής ελληνικής δημώδους γραμματείας 1100–1669, Κέντρο Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, https://www.greek-language.gr
  8. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki

Borrowed into

Cite this entry

“Μαθηματικός.” Etymologically, 1 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/grc/%CE%BC%CE%B1%CE%B8%CE%B7%CE%BC%CE%B1%CF%84%CE%B9%CE%BA%CF%8C%CF%82. Accessed 2 Nov. 2026.

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