mathematicus

Forms

mathēmaticus (feminine mathēmatica, neuter mathēmaticum); first/second-declension adjective^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Ancient Greek μαθηματικός (mathēmatikós, “mathematical”),^[2][3][1][4] from μάθημα (máthēma, “what is learnt, knowledge”), from μανθάνω (manthánō, “to learn”).^[4][1] The noun is the adjective used as a substantive.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler dates it from Cicero,^[4] who speaks in De Oratore of mathematics and music.^[2]

Semantic evolution

As an adjective it means of mathematics, that is of arithmetic, geometry and the allied sciences;^[2][3] Gellius lists geometry, arithmetic, astronomy and music among the mathematical disciplines.^[2][3] It also means of astrology, as in Pliny the Elder.^[2] The TLL notes that, following Greek usage, the noun first named those who studied the liberal disciplines.^[5] As a noun it is a mathematician: Varro names two noble mathematicians.^[2] It also means an astrologer;^[2][1] Seneca writes, in the Apocolocyntosis, that astrologers should be allowed to tell the truth for once.^[2][1]

Timeline

• 81–43 BC – Cicero of mathematics.^[2][4]
• 116–27 BC – Varro of mathematicians.^[2]
• 4 BC–65 AD – Seneca of astrologers.^[2]
• 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder of astrology.^[2]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Of mathematics, mathematical.^[2][3][1][6]
2. Of astrology.^[2]

Noun

1. A mathematician.^[2][1]
2. An astrologer.^[2][1]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
5. ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
6. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson