Etymologically
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abacus

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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

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