abacus

Pronunciation

• IPA (Classical): [ˈa.ba.kʊs]^[1]
• IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈaː.ba.kus]^[1]

Forms

abacus m (genitive abacī); second declension^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Ancient Greek ἄβαξ (ábax, “board, counting table”).^[2][1][3] Priscian also records a Latin form abax.^[4][5] Etymonline calls the Greek word of uncertain origin.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

Cato the Elder lists an abacus among the furnishings of a farm in his treatise on agriculture.^[2] Köbler dates Cato 234–149 BC.^[7]

Semantic evolution

Its basic sense is a square tablet.^[4] The first sense is a slab-topped table or sideboard for displaying plate, as in Varro and in Cicero's speeches against Verres.^[2][8] In architecture it was an ornamental panel on a wall and the slab at the top of a column, in Vitruvius.^[2]

It also meant a counting board or sand table for arithmetic and geometry, as in Persius, and a board for games, as in Suetonius on Nero.^[2][8] Late Latin used it for calculation in general.^[1] Medieval Latin kept the senses of arithmetic and the counting board.^[9][10] English abacus is recorded in the late 14th century, first for a sand table for drawing and calculating.^[6]

Timeline

• 234–149 BC – Cato the Elder lists it among a farm's equipment.^[2][7]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of sideboards with gold and silver vessels.^[2][8][7]
• c. 84–c. 25 BC – Vitruvius uses it of wall panels and of the top of a column.^[2][7]
• 34–62 AD – Persius uses it of a counting board.^[2][7]
• late 14th century – English abacus is recorded.^[6]

Meanings

Noun

1. A slab-topped table, a sideboard.^[2][4]
2. An ornamental panel on a wall; the slab at the top of a column, the abacus of a capital.^[2]
3. A counting board or sand table.^[2][8]
4. A board for playing games.^[2][8]
5. (Late Latin) Calculation, arithmetic.^[1][9]

Word family

• abacīnus
• abaculus

Related words

• English abacus

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ Saalfeld, Günther Alexander (1874), Index Graecorum vocabulorum in linguam latinam translatorum, Berlin: Weidmann
4. ^ a b c Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
6. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
7. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
8. ^ a b c d e Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
9. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
10. ^ Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch bis zum ausgehenden 13. Jahrhundert (1967–), Munich: C. H. Beck; Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften