analyticus

Forms

analyticus (feminine analytica, neuter analyticum); first/second-declension adjective^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Ancient Greek ἀναλυτικός (analutikós, “analytical”),^[1][2][3][4] from ἀναλύω (analúō, “to undo, dissolve”), from ἀνά (aná, “up, back”) and λύω (lúō, “to loosen”).^[4] English analytic was taken from the Medieval Latin word.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Boethius uses it in his commentaries on Aristotle's On Interpretation, of the Prior and Posterior Analytics (“priores postremosque analyticos”), and glosses it with resolutorius: “in analyticis, id est resolutoriis”.^[6][2]

Semantic evolution

In Medieval Latin it described reasoning that resolves what is derived into its principles, the opposite of the compositive method, and the neuter plural analytica named that part of logic, after Aristotle's work.^[7][8] The feminine was also used as a noun for analysis as a science, and an adverb meant “by way of analysis”.^[7] Spellings with ⟨e⟩ and ⟨i⟩ (analeticus, analiticus) occur.^[4][7]

Timeline

• 1st quarter of the 6th century AD – Boethius uses it of Aristotle's Analytics.^[4][6][2]
• c. 1600 – English adopts it as analytic.^[5]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Analytical, proceeding by resolution into principles.^{[2][3][7][9][8]}

Noun

1. (neuter plural, analytica) Aristotle's Analytics; the part of logic that deals with demonstration.^[2][7][8]
2. (Medieval Latin, feminine) Analysis as a science.^[7]

Related words

• analysis
• English analytic

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
3. ^ a b Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
4. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
5. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
6. ^ a b Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
7. ^ a b c d e f Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch bis zum ausgehenden 13. Jahrhundert (1967–), Munich: C. H. Beck; Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
8. ^ a b c Schütz, Ludwig (1895), Thomas-Lexikon, 2nd ed., Paderborn: F. Schöningh
9. ^ Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill