computatio

Forms

computātiō f (genitive computātiōnis); third declension^[1] It is also spelled conputātiō, and the manuscripts sometimes have compot-.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is from Latin computō (“to calculate, reckon”) + -tiō.^[2][1][3] De Vaan lists computō among the derivatives of putō, from Plautus on; he takes putus (“pure, clean”) to be the base of the family, so that the verb first meant “to prune a tree”, whence “to reckon”, and traces it to Proto-Italic *puto- (“cut off, clean”) and Proto-Indo-European *pHu-tó-.^[4] Varro, whom the TLL cites, explained the noun from the simple verb in the sense “to make clean”.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLL records it first in Varro's De lingua Latina.^[3][5]

Semantic evolution

The TLL notes that after Varro it is frequent from Seneca the philosopher on and common in the jurists.^[3] Lewis and Short call it post-Augustan.^[6] It means calculation, reckoning, and also the form or result of a particular calculation: Seneca speaks of one computation gathering smaller and unequal sums, and Pliny the Elder uses it of distances worked out in Roman measure.^[2][3] Seneca and Pliny also use it of the close reckoning of the avaricious, niggardliness.^[6] In medieval British sources it is a count or calculation, especially of the calendar: Bede has a computation contained in a cycle of 84 years.^[7] Niermeyer gives the medieval sense account.^[8] English took computation from it around 1400.^[9]

Timeline

• 116–27 BC – Varro uses it.^[3][5]
• 4 BC–65 AD – Seneca uses it of calculation and of close reckoning.^[2][6][5]
• 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder uses it of reckoning distances.^[3][5]
• c. 1400 – English borrows it as computation.^[9]

Meanings

Noun

1. Calculation, reckoning, computation; the result of a calculation.^[2][6]
2. Close reckoning, niggardliness, parsimony.^[6]
3. (Medieval Latin) An account; reckoning of the calendar.^[8][7]

Related words

• English computation

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g h Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
4. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
5. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ a b c d e Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b Latham, R. E., D. R. Howlett, R. K. Ashdowne, et al. (1975–2013), Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources, London: British Academy / Oxford University Press
8. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
9. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com