logica

Forms

logica f (genitive logicae); first declension^[1][2] Also logicē (genitive logicēs).^[1][2][3]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Ancient Greek λογική (logikḗ, “logic”),^[3][1] the feminine of λογικός (logikós, “of speech or reason”) with “art” understood,^[3][4] from λόγος (lógos, “word, reason”).^[4] Isidore of Seville explained the name the same way: ⟨logos⟩ means both speech and reason among the Greeks.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Cicero still writes the word in Greek letters, for the part of philosophy concerned with inquiry and argument;^[3][1] in Latin letters it is found in Boethius and Isidore of Seville.^[1][2]

Semantic evolution

Isidore defines dialectic as the part of philosophy called logica, the rational part, able to define, inquire and argue,^[6] and divides it into dialectic and rhetoric.^[5] The purely Latin name was rationālis (philosophy).^[1]

In the medieval schools it was one of the main parts of philosophy, and at Oxford a statute from before 1350 required masters of arts to hold a disputation in logic.^[7] English took over the word, through Old French, in the mid-14th century as logic.^[4]

Timeline

• 81–43 BC – Cicero uses the Greek word λογική.^[3][8]
• c. 560–636 AD – Isidore of Seville defines logica as the rational part of philosophy.^[3][8]
• before 1350 – Oxford statutes require disputations in logic.^[7]
• mid-14th century – Borrowed into English as logic.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. Logic, the part of philosophy dealing with reasoning and argument.^[3][1][2]

Related words

• dialectica
• English logic

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
2. ^ a b c d Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
3. ^ a b c d e f g Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b Isidore of Seville, Etymologiarum sive Originum libri XX, ed. W. M. Lindsay (Oxford, 1911)., p. 2.24.7
6. ^ Isidore of Seville, Etymologiarum sive Originum libri XX, ed. W. M. Lindsay (Oxford, 1911)., p. 2.22.1
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 Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de