English
technology
Technology is a learned borrowing of Ancient Greek τεχνολογία ‘systematic treatment’, from τεχνολόγος, from τέχνη ‘art’ + -λογία.
- Ancient Greekc. 800–300 BCEτεχνολόγοςtekhnológos‘treating by rules of art’
- Ancient Greek, derivedc. 800–300 BCEτεχνολογίαtekhnología‘systematic treatment’
- Englishearliest quotation 1981technology
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
Lineage
- Ancient Greekc. 800–300 BCEτεχνολόγοςtekhnológos‘treating by rules of art’
- Ancient Greek, derivedc. 800–300 BCEτεχνολογίαtekhnología‘systematic treatment’
- Englishearliest quotation 1981technology
Earliest quotation: 1981, Cyril Stanley Smith, A Search for Structure: Selected Essays on Science: “Nearly everyone believes, falsely, that technology is applied science…”
Equivalent to techno- + -logy
Proto-Indo-European *tetḱ- ‘to create, produce’
Proto-Indo-European *téḱ-sneh₂
Ancient Greek τέχνη ‘craft, skill, trade’
English techno-
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *leǵ- ‘to gather, collect, with derivatives meaning…’
election, collection, lesson, eligible, select, elite, collect, logic, elegant, legion, elect, coil, negligence, apology, negligible, trilogy, negligent, analogy, diligent, sociology, logos, physiology, leach, pathology, cull, terminology, logistic, prologue, pathologist, monologue, archaeologist, legation, eulogy, lignin, homologous, etymology, lignite, epistemology, entomology, ineligibility, 163 more
through Proto-Hellenic *légō ‘to gather’
through Ancient Greek λέγω ‘to put in order, arrange, gather’
catalogue, lexicon, lexical, epilogue, astrology, dialectic, alexia, lexis, cosmology, gynecologist, dialogic, 20 more
Today it means
noun The combined application of science and art in practical ways in industry, as for example in designing new machines.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Ancient Greek τεχνολόγος / technology