abacus English · revision 355

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /ˈæb.ə.kəs/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[bor|la|abacus|t=counting board]],^(AHD)^(Barnhart 1995)^(Etymonline) [[der|grc|ἄβαξ|tr=ábax|t=counting table, board for drawing]], whose stem ''abak-'' appears in the genitive ''abakos''.^(Barnhart 1995)^(Etymonline)^(AHD) The Greek word is often traced to a Semitic source such as Hebrew ''ʾābāq'' “dust”,^(AHD)^(Etymonline) but Etymonline notes that Beekes and others find this connection “semantically weak” and treat the word as of uncertain origin.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ A board or tray strewn with sand on which figures and diagrams could be drawn and calculations traced (before 1387).^(OED 1989)^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1995)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ The first abacus was literally dusty: a sand-covered board on which marks could be made and wiped away.^(AHD)^(Etymonline) The word then passed to the counting frame with beads or balls sliding on wires, attested in English from the 17th century,^(Etymonline)^(OED 1989) and this is the main sense today.^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate) In architecture the word names the flat slab on top of a column's capital (1563).^(OED 1989)^(AHD)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 1387 – a sand-strewn board for drawing figures and calculating.^(OED 1989)^(Barnhart 1995)

+ * 1563 – the slab crowning the capital of a column.^(OED 1989)^(Wiktionary)

+ * 1686 – a calculating frame in which balls slide on wires.^(OED 1989)^(Wiktionary)

+ * 1853 – in classical antiquities, a sideboard.^(OED 1989)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A frame with rows of sliding beads or counters, used for doing arithmetic by hand.^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)^(RHWU)^(Wiktionary)

+ # ''(architecture)'' The flat slab forming the top of a column's capital.^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)^(RHWU)

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[abacist]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}