Re: Computers (was Re: Stress marking)

En réponse à John Cowan <jcowan@...>:

> "Carlos Eugenio Thompson (EDC)" wrote:
>
> > Well, I guess English derived _computer_ from the English verb _to
> compute_ which in turn comes from Latin (probably via French).
>
> Direct from Latin ("computer" used to mean "a person who does
> calculations");
> if it had come through French, it would be "compt" or the like.
>
Not really: French has both "compter" and "computer", from the same origin
(computare in Latin). The first is the common word (meaning "to count") while
the second is a learned word (meaning more or less "to carry out a long
calculation"). The learned word is out of use nowadays though.

Christophe.