mathesisn.

Etymology: < Anglo-Norman mathesis (early 13th cent. in sense ‘astrology’), Middle French mathesie (c1370 in sense ‘mathematics’) and their etymon post-classical Latin mathesis astrology (early 3rd cent. in Tertullian; frequently in British sources from 12th cent.), the liberal arts, the quadrivium, the science of numbers (4th cent.), science, learning (frequently in British sources from 12th cent.) < ancient Greek μάθησις the action of learning (the reference to astrology appears to have developed in Latin, but compare the senses ‘astrology, magic’ recorded in Hellenistic Greek for the closely related ancient Greek μάθημα ) < the stem of μανθάνειν to learn (see mathematic n.). In sense 2 after French mathesis science of measurement and order (M. Foucault Les mots et les choses (1966) 70).In post-classical Latin, the senses ‘mathematics’ and ‘astrology’ may sometimes have been distinguished by a short and long e respectively, as in Eberhard of Béthune's hexameter line Scire facit mathĕsis sed divinare mathēsis, although the evidence of earlier writers does not appear to support this assertion. The suggestion that an analogous distinction may sometimes have existed in English is difficult to substantiate: early metrical evidence shows the stress falling variously on the first or the second syllable without any clear differentiation in sense. The β. forms are after Middle French mathesie.