A few weeks ago when we looked at the word mathematics, a reader asked for the history of arithmetic too, since that’s included in the “Three Rs” of education–Reading, wRiting, and ‘Rithmetic. (And don’t we just love that of those “Three Rs,” only one actually starts with an R? LOL)
Arithmetic entered the English language waaaaay back in the mid-1200s, meaning exactly what it does today: “the art of computation, the most elementary branch of mathematics.”
The English word came from French, which came from Latin, which came from the Greek arithmetikē , which means, quite simply, “counting.”
Yep. Arithmetic just means counting.
A small, interesting note is that the spelling was originally arsmetike, which mirrors the French spelling but does not reflect the Latin or Greek spellings. This was “corrected” in the early 1500s to better reflect the root words.
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Roseanna M. White is a bestselling, Christy Award winning author who has long claimed that words are the air she breathes. Having successfully launched two homeschool grads, she now spends her time writing fiction, designing book covers, and pretending her house will clean itself. Roseanna is the author of a slew of historical novels that span several continents and thousands of years, as well as a fantasy series and contemporary mysteries and romances. Spies and war and mayhem always seem to find their way into her books…to offset her real life, which is blessedly ordinary. 
