Where does “cardinality” come from?
Cardinality derives from English cardinal plus the French suffix -ité, which comes from Latin -itas and -alis, ultimately from Latin carduus and Proto-Indo-European -it-.
cardinality (English): The number of elements a given set contains; The...
Definitions
- The number of elements a given set contains; The...
Ancestry of “cardinality”, step by step
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|
| 1 | English | -ity | Used to form a noun from an adjective;... |
| 2 | Middle English | -ite | — |
| 3 | Old French | -ité | -ity |
| 4 | Latin | -itās | — |
| 5 | Proto-Indo-European | -teh₂ts | Used to form nouns representing state of being |
| 6 | Proto-Indo-European | -teh₂ | Used to form nouns representing state of being |
| 7 | Proto-Indo-European | -tós | Creates verbal adjectives from verb stems |