quword 趣词
Word Origins Dictionary
- algorithm[algorithm 词源字典]
- algorithm: [13] Algorithm comes from the name of an Arab mathematician, in full Abu Ja far Mohammed ibn-Musa al-Khwarizmi (c. 780–c. 850), who lived and taught in Baghdad and whose works in translation introduced Arabic numerals to the West. The last part of his name means literally ‘man from Khwarizm’, a town on the borders of Turkmenistan, now called Khiva. The Arabic system of numeration and calculation, based on 10, of which he was the chief exponent, became known in Arabic by his name – al-khwarizmi.
This was borrowed into medieval Latin as algorismus (with the Arabic -izmi transformed into the Latin suffix -ismus ‘-ism’). In Old French algorismus became augorime, which was the basis of the earliest English form of the word, augrim. From the 14th century onwards, Latin influence gradually led to the adoption of the spelling algorism in English.
This remains the standard form of the word when referring to the Arabic number system; but in the late 17th century an alternative version, algorithm, arose owing to association with Greek árithmos ‘number’ (source of arithmetic [13]), and this became established from the 1930s onwards as the term for a stepby- step mathematical procedure, as used in computing. Algol, the name of a computer programming language, was coined in the late 1950s from ‘algorithmic language’.
=> allegory, allergy, arithmetic[algorithm etymology, algorithm origin, 英语词源] - boob tube (n.)
- "television set," U.S. slang, by 1965, from boob "stupid person" + slang tube (n.) "television, television programming," because the sets really did have vacuum tubes in them once upon a time.
- deprogram (v.)
- "release from cult brainwashing," 1973, from de- + program (v.). Related: Deprogrammed; deprogramming.
- Fortran (n.)
- computer programming language, 1956, from combination of elements from formula + translation.
- hacker (n.)
- early 13c. (as a surname), "a chopper, cutter," perhaps also "one who makes hacking tools," agent noun from hack (v.1).
Meaning "one who gains unauthorized access to computer records" is attested by 1975, and this sense seems to suggest hack (v.1), but the computer use is said to be from slightly earlier tech slang sense of "one who works like a hack at writing and experimenting with software, one who enjoys computer programming for its own sake," reputedly a usage that evolved at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (however an MIT student from the late 1960s recalls hack (n.) being used then and there in the general sense of "creative prank." This suggests rather a connection with hack (n.2) via the notion of "plodding, routine work." There may be a convergence of both words here. - loop (n.)
- late 14c., "loop of cloth, rope, leather, etc.," probably of Celtic origin (compare Gaelic lub "bend," Irish lubiam), influenced by or blended with Old Norse hlaup "a leap, run" (see leap (v.)). In reference to magnetic recording tape or film, first recorded 1931. Computer programming sense first attested 1947.
- PASCAL
- high-level computer programming language, 1971, named for French scholar Blaise Pascal (1623-1662), who invented a calculating machine c. 1642.
- preprogram (v.)
- also pre-program, 1955, from pre- + program (v.). Related: Preprogrammed; preprogramming.
- program (v.)
- 1889, "write program notes;" 1896, "arrange according to program," from program (n.). Of computers from 1945. From 1963 in the figurative sense of "to train to behave in a predetermined way." Related: Programmed; programming.
- reprogram (v.)
- also reprogramme, 1945, from re- "back, again" + program (v.). Related: Reprogrammed; reprogramming.
- autocode
- "A programming language that can be used to generate machine code in another language", 1950s. From auto- + code.
- hackathon
- "An event, typically lasting several days, in which a large number of people meet to engage in collaborative computer programming", 1990s: from hack1, on the pattern of marathon.