system

The story

1. Proto-Indo-European*ḱe?
2. Proto-Indo-European*ḱómder.?
3. Proto-Indo-European*sem-der.?
4. Proto-Hellenic*ksún
5. Ancient Greekσύν (sún)
6. Ancient Greekσυν- (sun-)
7. Proto-Indo-European*steh₂-
8. Proto-Indo-European*stísteh₂ti
9. Proto-Hellenic*hístāmi
10. Ancient Greekἵστημι (hístēmi)
11. Ancient Greekσῠνῐ́στημῐ (sŭnĭ́stēmĭ)
12. Ancient Greekσύστημα (sústēma)
13. Late Latinsystēma
14. Middle Frenchsysteme
15. English todaysystem

Partly borrowed from Middle French sisteme, systeme, partly directly from its etymon Late Latin systēma (“harmony; musical scale; set of celestial objects; set of troops; system”), from Ancient Greek σύστημα (sústēma, “musical scale; organized body; whole made of several parts or members”), from σῠνίστημῐ (sŭnístēmĭ, “to combine, organize”) + -μᾰ (-mă, resultative suffix). σῠνίστημῐ is from σῠν- (sŭn-, “with, together”) + ἵστημι (hístēmi, “to stand”), from Proto-Indo-European *steh₂- (“to stand (up)”). Cognate with Dutch systeem, modern French système, German System, Italian sistema, Portuguese sistema, Spanish sistema. Doublet of systema.

Words from the same roots

First known use, by meaning

• from early 17th c. A group or set of related things that operate together as a complex whole.
• from early 17th c. A set of hardware and software operating in a computer.
• from early 17th c. A set of equations involving the same variables, which are to be solved simultaneously.
• from early 17th c. A set of staves linked by a brace that indicate instruments or sounds that are to be played simultaneously.
• from early 17th c. A set of body organs having a particular function.
• from early 17th c. A set of alters of a person, or the multiple (“an individual with multiple personalities”) who contains them.
• from early 17th c. A system in which two or more objects are bound to each other by gravity.
• from early 17th c. A comprehensive and logically organized set of propositions or philosophical beliefs.