English
logistic
Logistic comes from French logistique ‘relating to symbolic logic’, from Ancient Greek λογιστικός ‘practiced in arithmetic’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *leǵ- ‘to collect (words)’.
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*leǵ-‘to collect (words)’reconstructed
- Proto-Hellenicc. 2200–1600 BCE*lógosreconstructed
- Ancient Greekc. 800–300 BCEλόγοςlógos‘reason, computation’
- Ancient Greek, derivedc. 800–300 BCEλογίζομαιlogízomai‘I reason, I calculate’
- Ancient Greek, derivedc. 800–300 BCEλογιστικόςlogistikós‘practiced in arithmetic’
- Frenchc. 1600–presentlogistique‘relating to symbolic logic’
- Englishearliest quotation 1730logistic
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
Lineage
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*leǵ-‘to collect (words)’reconstructed
- Proto-Hellenicc. 2200–1600 BCE*lógosreconstructed
- Ancient Greekc. 800–300 BCEλόγοςlógos‘reason, computation’
- Ancient Greek, derivedc. 800–300 BCEλογίζομαιlogízomai‘I reason, I calculate’
- Ancient Greek, derivedc. 800–300 BCEλογιστικόςlogistikós‘practiced in arithmetic’
- Frenchc. 1600–presentlogistique‘relating to symbolic logic’
- Englishearliest quotation 1730logistic
Earliest quotation: 1730, J. P. Biester, Decreasing Logarithms: “If we compare the calculus of a triangle, by…”
The story
From French logistique, from Ancient Greek λογιστικός (logistikós, “practiced in arithmetic; rational”), from λογίζομαι (logízomai, “I reason, I calculate”), from λόγος (lógos, “reason, computation”), whence English logos, logic, logarithm, etc.; modern mathematical use influenced by related logarithmic. Sense of “logistic function” by Pierre François Verhulst (1845) in French, then borrowed into English. Verhulst does not explain his choice of naming, but he contrasts it with the logarithmic curve (also from λόγος (lógos)), and it is presumably by analogy with arithmetic and geometric (other divisions of mathematics), as his discussion of arithmetic growth and geometric growth precede his discussion of logistic growth. The term logistic and logistical also found occasional mathematical use in English prior to 1800, from the same Greek origin.
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *leǵ- ‘to collect (words)’
election, collection, technology, lesson, select, elite, collect, eligible, elect, elegant, coil, legion, negligence, catalogue, negligent, leach, negligible, diligent, cull, lexicon, astrology, lexical, epilogue, cosmology, alexia, lignite, lignin, legation, dialectical, dialectic, lexis, gynecologist, ineligibility, dialogic, 150 more
through Proto-Hellenic *lógos
archaeological, pathological, etymology, homologous, pathophysiology, psychopathology, astrological, neurophysiology, histopathology, bacteriological, 102 more
through Ancient Greek λόγος ‘reason, computation’
apology, trilogy, logic, sociology, terminology, analogy, physiology, pathology, logos, monologue, prologue, eulogy, entomology, archaeologist, pathologist, epistemology, etiology, bacteriology, apologia, bacteriologist, 111 more
through Ancient Greek λογίζομαι ‘I reason, I calculate’
Another origin of logistic
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400logier‘to lodge’
- Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600logier‘to lodge’
- Frenchc. 1600–presentloger‘to lodge’
- French, derivedc. 1600–presentlogistique‘logistics’
- Englishtodaylogistic
Today it means
adj Relating to symbolic logic.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *leǵ- / logistic