Origins of Mathematical Words: A Comprehensive Dictionary of Latin, Greek, and Arabic Roots

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283 Peter is b/(a + b). The expected number of tosses until someone is ruined is ab. This last result was considered a paradox by many, for if a = 1 and b = 1,000,000, one expects Peter to be ruined right away. The surprise is to be explained in the same manner as the Petersburg paradox, q.v. rule This is the corruption of the Latin noun regula. See the entry regula above. ruler The suffix of agency -er has been added to the verb rule to produce ruler, that which rules. S saddle The Latin word sella means saddle. It is related to the noun sedile, which means seat. Both sella and sedile are derived from the verb sedeo, sedere, sedi, sessus, which means to sit. salient The Latin verb salio, salire, salui, saltus means to jump. Its present participle is saliens, salientis, whose stem is the English adjective salient. saltus This is the Latin fourth-declension noun derived from the fourth principal part of the verb salio. See the entry salient above. sample This word is the corruption of the Latin noun exemplum. See the entry example. sampling This word is the English gerund of sample. See the preceding entry. satisfy The Latin verb satisfacio, satisfacere, satisfeci, satisfactus means to do (facio) enough (satis) for, to make amends to. The c was already lost by the French, who used faire for facere. 284 saturated The Latin adverb satis means enough, and the related adjective satur, satŭra, satŭrum means full of food, sated. From this adjective proceeded the verb saturo, saturare, saturavi, saturatus with the meaning to glut, to fill, whence came our verb to saturate. If {X, , μ} is a measure space, we say that a subset E of X is locally measurable if E ∩ B  for each B  with μB The measure μ is called saturated if every locally measurable set is measurable. (Royden, p. 221) scalar The Latin noun scala means a staircase. It is related to the verb scando, scandere, scandi, scansus, which means to climb. The addition of the adjectival suffix -alis to the stem of the noun produced the word scalaris, with the meaning pertaining to a staircase. scale Scala is the Latin word for staircase. scalene This is the metamorphosis of the Greek adjective skalhnÒj, which means limping, formed from the verb sk£zw, to limp. It went over into late Latin as scalenus. scattergram The Greek verb sked£nnumi means to scatter and is probably the ultimate source of the English verb. The noun gram is derived from the Greek nouns tÕ gr£mma, a letter, and ¹ gramm», a stroke in writing, a line. science The Latin verb scio, scire, scivi, scitus means to know, and the derived noun scientia means knowledge, learning. scientific The late Latin adjective scientificus, -a, -um was derived from the noun scientia, which means knowledge, and the verb facio, which means to make, to do; the -ic is not from -ikÒj. secant The Latin verb seco, secare, sectus means to cut. Its present participle secans, secantis means cutting, and its root is the English word secant. The secant of the angle θ is the length of the line segment from ‫ڕ‬ ‫ڕ‬ ‫ڕ‬ 285 the origin to the point (1, tan θ). The line segment in question is called the secant line because it cuts through the unit circle. sech This is the standard abbreviation for the hyperbolic secant function: sech x = 1/cosh x. The abbreviation stands for cosecans hyperbolica. Someone somewhere is probably pronouncing it sĕch, but it should be read hyperbolic secant. second The Latin verb sequor, sequi, secutus means to follow. From this verb proceeded the adjective secundus with the meaning following after the first. The use of the noun second as the division of time is derived from the Latin phrase secunda minuta, the second minute. secondary The Latin adjective secundarius means second-rate. For example, Suetonius speaks of the second-rate bread (panis secundarius) that the emperor Tiberius provided for Rome. section The Latin verb seco, secare, secui, sectus means to cut. From the fourth principal part comes the noun sectio, sectionis with the meaning a cutting, a division into parts. The English word is the stem of this noun. sector The Latin verb seco, secare, secui, sectus means to cut. From the fourth principal part comes the noun of agent sector, which means he who cuts. The use...