What is the etymology of ypologistís (Greek, computer)?

Question

Is ypologistís (Greek for computer) derived from, or related to,

apologeisthai "to speak in one's defense," from apologos "an account, story," (Etomonline)

I have now been informed by Janus Bahs Jacquet that the Ancient Greek word was hypologistēs. A bit of searching gave me the meaning of logistes:

auditor or accountant who scrutinizes the accounts of other officials who have authority over public funds

But what was the hypologistes? An underling of the logistes, a clerk?

And does it derive from logike and ultimately from logos? Etomonline

hypologistēs does not seem to be an Ancient Greek word -- at least it is not in the Liddell-Scott dictionary: perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/… — TKR, Aug 12, 2016 at 3:17
Seems unlikely, since ἀπό- and ὑπό- are distinct in Greek... — jogloran, Aug 12, 2016 at 5:16

fdb · Accepted Answer · 2016-08-12 08:01:45Z

2

The Modern Greek word was formed from Classical ὑπολογίζομαι "to take something into account", which of course comes from λόγος.

answered Aug 12, 2016 at 7:52

fdb

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Anixx · Accepted Answer · 2016-08-12 12:50:50Z

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In Russian,

счёт = counting, account

подсчёт = (under + counting) calculation, final summation

I think it is natural that final calculation has the "under-" prefix because when you sum up things, you write the result under the summed up data.

answered Aug 12, 2016 at 12:50

Anixx

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That is an interesting observation. ὑπολογίζομαι does not actually mean "calculate", but it can mean "subtract" .... sub + trahere.
– fdb
Aug 12, 2016 at 20:09

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2 Answers 2