calculus Latin · revision 5086

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=derivation|attested=Cicero|origins=la calx}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA (Classical): [ˈkaɫ.kʊ.ɫʊs]^(Wiktionary)

+ * IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈkal.ku.lus]^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''calculus''' ''m'' (genitive calculī); second declension^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[af|la|calx|-ulus|t1=lime, limestone; a stone]], a diminutive.^(OLD 2012)^(TLL) De Vaan takes ''calx'' “lime” as a loan from [[grc|χάλιξ|tr=khálix|t=small stone, gravel]], or from another Mediterranean language that lent it to both.^(de Vaan 2008)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Köbler gives Cicero first,^(Köbler 2010) who tells how Demosthenes practised speaking with pebbles in his mouth.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879) Köbler dates Cicero 81–43 BC.^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ It was a small stone or pebble, and a stone in the bladder or kidney.^(OLD 2012) Pebbles were used on a counting board, so it came to mean a calculation, reckoning or account; they were also the pieces in board games and the white or black stones cast as votes to acquit or condemn.^(OLD 2012) Vitruvius uses it of lumps in lime.^(OLD 2012)

+

+ In medieval Latin it was arithmetic, a decision or sentence, and one's fortune or lot.^(Niermeyer 1976) [[en|calculate]] came from its verb [[calculō|alt=calculāre]], and [[en|calculus]] as a mathematical method dates from the 1660s.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of pebbles and of stones in the bladder.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 43 BC–18 AD – Ovid uses it of the black pebble of condemnation.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * Middle Ages – It is used of arithmetic.^(Niermeyer 1976)

+ * 1660s – English ''calculus'' is recorded in mathematics.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A small stone, [[m|en|pebble]].^(OLD 2012)

+ # ''(medicine)'' A stone in the bladder or kidney.^(OLD 2012)

+ # A counter for reckoning; a calculation, account.^(OLD 2012)

+ # A piece in a board game.^(OLD 2012)

+ # A pebble used as a [[m|en|vote]].^(OLD 2012)

+ # ''(Medieval Latin)'' [[m|en|arithmetic]]; a sentence; one's lot.^(Niermeyer 1976)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[calculārius]]

+ * [[calculēnsis]]

+ * [[calculō]]

+ * [[calculōsus]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[calx]]

+ * [[en|calculate]]

+ * [[en|calculus]]

+ * [[en|chalk]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ Isidore describes the ''calculus'' as a small, round, very hard stone mixed with earth.^(Isidore)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}