3 ms·

"digital" in "romance" languages means the modern 'digital' sense but also an adjective meaning "related to the fingers".

• dbdr 6mo ago
  It also means that in English: > Digital: > [...] > 6) of or relating to the fingers or toes. Ex: digital dexterity
• cake-rusk 6mo ago
  English is a "romance" language then.
  • anthk 6mo ago
    English it's a hugely romance-influenced Germanic language.
    • iamflimflam1 6mo ago
      I thoroughly recommend this podcast if you are interested in where the English language comes from: https://historyofenglishpodcast.com https://historyofenglishpodcast.com
    • world2vec 6mo ago
      English is a mix and merge of Norman French and Anglo-Saxon.
    • mghackerlady 6mo ago
      english is (latin greek french anglic arabic) in a trench coat
      • hk__2 6mo ago
        Arabic?
        • mghackerlady 6mo ago
          https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_English_words_of_Arabic_origin https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_English_words_of_Arabi...
          • hk__2 6mo ago
            Thanks, but those are only ~150 random words; that’s not enough to be important.
            • mghackerlady 6mo ago
              considering the amount of use a lot of those get (especially in more technical fields), I say it counts
      • ahartmetz 6mo ago
        The core is just proto-Germanic + Latin via French. A bunch of foreign words don't really count.
        • eru 6mo ago
          They also important some foreign grammar here and there.
• kleiba2 6mo ago
  Digitus is the Latin word for finger.
  • andy81 6mo ago
    Digit is the English word for finger.
    • kleiba2 6mo ago
      Yes, but we're talking about the origin of the word.
• felixyz 6mo ago
  That's where the modern meaning of "digital circuit" etc comes from as well, the discrete/jointed nature of the digits (ie fingers). (Source: I read it a long time ago and was fascinated so stuck in my memory.)
  • wat10000 6mo ago
    I don't think it's directly connected. etymonline.com says it started with the meaning of fingers, then numerals derived from that meaning since numerals are counted on fingers, then the type of circuit derived from the meaning of numerals since they (at least conceptually) operate on numerals.