Editing Abacus (section)

==Etymology==
The word ''abacus'' dates to at least 1387&nbsp;AD when a [[Middle English]] work borrowed the word from [[Latin]] that described a sandboard abacus. The Latin word is derived from [[ancient Greek]] {{lang|grc|ἄβαξ}} ({{Transliteration|grc|abax}}) which means something without a base, and colloquially, any piece of rectangular material.<ref>{{harvnb|de Stefani|1909|p=2}}</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Gaisford|1962|p=2}}</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Lasserre|Livadaras|1976|p=4}}</ref>  Alternatively, without reference to ancient texts on etymology, it has been suggested that it means "a square tablet strewn with dust",<ref>{{harvnb|Klein|1966|p=1}}</ref> or "drawing-board covered with dust (for the use of mathematics)"<ref>{{harvnb|Onions|Friedrichsen|Burchfield|1967|p=2}}</ref> (the exact shape of the Latin perhaps reflects the [[Genitive case|genitive form]] of the Greek word, {{lang|grc|ἄβακoς}} (''{{Transliteration|grc|abakos}}'')). While the table strewn with dust definition is popular, some argue evidence is insufficient for that conclusion.<ref name="pull17">{{harvnb|Pullan|1968|p=17}}</ref>{{refn|group=nb|Both C. J. Gadd, a keeper of the Egyptian and Assyrian Antiquities at the [[British Museum]], and [[Jacob Levy]], a Jewish historian who wrote ''Neuhebräisches und chaldäisches wörterbuch über die Talmudim und Midraschim [Neuhebräisches and Chaldean dictionary on the Talmuds and Midrashi]'', disagree with the "dust table" theory.<ref name=pull17/>}} Greek {{lang|grc|ἄβαξ}} probably borrowed from a [[Northwest Semitic language]] like [[Phoenician language|Phoenician]], evidenced by a cognate with the [[Hebrew language|Hebrew]] word ''ʾābāq'' ({{Script/Hebrew|אבק}}), or "dust" (in the post-Biblical sense "sand used as a writing surface").<ref name="Etymology">{{harvnb|Huehnergard|2011|p=2}}</ref>

Both ''abacuses''<ref name = SOED>{{harvnb|Brown|1993|p=2}}</ref> and ''abaci''<ref name = SOED/> are used as plurals. The user of an abacus is called an ''abacist''.<ref>{{harvnb|Gove|1976|p=1}}</ref>