English
cossist
Cossist comes from Italian cossista, from cosa ‘thing’, and ultimately from Latin causa ‘cause, reason’.
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEcausa‘cause, reason’
- Italianc. 1300–presentcosa‘thing’
- Italian, derivedc. 1300–presentcossista
- Englishearliest quotation 1989cossist
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Earlier history uncertain.
Lineage
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEcausa‘cause, reason’
- Italianc. 1300–presentcosa‘thing’
- Italian, derivedc. 1300–presentcossista
- Englishearliest quotation 1989cossist
Earliest quotation: 1989, Chikara Sasaki, Descartes's Mathematical Thought: “Clavius's treatise is, first of all, reckoned as one…”
The story
From Italian cossista, from the word cosa (‘thing’), in reference to an unknown quantity to be determined + -ista.uncertain The source flags this step as uncertain.
Linked words
through Old Latin caussa
through Latin causa ‘cause, reason’
because, cause, chose, chest, accuse, accusation, syllabus, causal, inexcusable, causative, accusative, excusable, 21 more
Today it means
noun A practitioner of proto-algebra in Renaissance and Early Modern Europe.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Latin causa / cossist