Etymologically
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mathematicus

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ma.tʰeːˈma.tɪ.kʊs][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ma.teˈmaː.ti.kus][1]

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