Wisconst
This is a translation of an article that appeared in the December 1998 issue of Pythagoras. It is second in a series of six on words in mathematics.
Long into the 17th century Latin was the language of science. Simon Stevin introduced Dutch as a scientific language. Because there were for many notions no Dutch words available he invented many new words himself.
Most languages have, basically, the same word for mathematics: mathematique, Mathematik, matematikk.
All those words derive from the Greek word μαθηματικη. The Dutch language is an exception: we have the word wiskunde, which we have Simon Stevin (born in 1548 in Bruges) to thank for. Stevin thought the Dutch was eminently suited for science. He worked very hard to find suitable Dutch words for as many notions as possible. The word `wisconst' was already in use in his days (end of the 16th and beginning of the 17th century). Stevin added many others such as `brantsne', `everedich', `houckmaet', `keghelsne', `lanckrondt', `meetconst', `noemer', `scherphouck' and `werf'.
To be sure
`Wisconst' is an old form of the present `wiskunde', which means mathematics. The `wis' in both words means `certain' or `sure'. The `const' and `kunde' can be taken to mean `art'. Thus wiskunde is the art of being certain. We achieve that `being certain' by proving every claim that we make. Those familiar with Dutch mathematical usage will recognize some of the words above:
everedich - evenredig - proportional
keghelsne - kegelsnede - conic section
meetconst - meetkunde - geometry
noemer - denominator
scherphouck - scherpe hoek - acute angle
stomphouck - stompe hoek - obtuse angle
Parabola, times
Other words look, even to Dutch eyes, less familiar; apparently they have not stood the test of time. The word `brantsne' (burning section) meant parabola. This is actually a nice term, because when you catch the sunlight in a parabolic mirror you can concentrate the heat of the sun in the focus (Dutch: brandpunt, `burning point').
If you look a bit longer at `lanckrondt' then you may recognize `lang' (long) and `rond' (round); the word refers to an ellipse. The word `werf' is a bit more difficult, the modern Dutch meaning can be shipyard or `area around ones house'. However, there is a word `driewerf', which means `three times', so that we see that `werf' does indeed means `times'. In Dutch you can use `keer' or `maal' for times; but the latter used to mean `divided by': Stevin translated the Latin quotiens (divided by) into `mael' or `soomenichmael' (roughly `as often as'). Finally `houckmaet' sounds like `hoekmaat', which would mean angle-measure, but Stevin used it to denote the sine of the angle, a bit ambiguous to modern ears.
Stevin introduced Dutch words not only in mathematics; the word `scheikunde' (chemistry) is also one of his inventions: `stofscheiding' (literally: substance-separation).
