Definition:Algorism/Linguistic Note

Linguistic Note on Algorism

During the Renaissance, the origin of the word algorism was uncertain.

According to 1997: Donald E. Knuth: The Art of Computer Programming: Volume 1: Fundamental Algorithms, various suggestions were made by linguists, for example:

• from the Greek algiros (meaning painful) and arithmos (meaning number)
• deriving from King Algor of Castile (whose actual identity $\mathsf{Pr} \infty \mathsf{fWiki}$ has not been able to establish)

but that eventually it was determined to have derived from the name Muhammad ibn Musa al-Khwarizmi.

Sources

• 1997: Donald E. Knuth: The Art of Computer Programming: Volume 1: Fundamental Algorithms (3rd ed.) ... (previous) ... (next): $\S 1.1$: Algorithms
• 1998: David Nelson: The Penguin Dictionary of Mathematics (2nd ed.) ... (previous) ... (next): al-Khwarizmi, Muhammad ibn Musa (c.780-c.850)
• 2008: David Nelson: The Penguin Dictionary of Mathematics (4th ed.) ... (previous) ... (next): al-Khwarizmi, Muhammad ibn Musa (c.780-c.850)