Etymology

apotome

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Today it means: The difference between two quantities or lengths commensurable only in power, as between 1 and the square root of 2, or between the diagonal and side of a square. Full definition →

Ancient Greek ἀποτομή
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The story

  1. Ancient Greek · borrowed fromἀποτομή“cutting off”
  2. English todayapotome

Borrowing from Ancient Greek ἀποτομή (apotomḗ, “cutting off”). The musical sense originates from the Pythagorean tradition. The mathematical sense is attested in Euclid's Elements (Book X, proposition 73, et seq.).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.