Editing Logistics (section)

== Nomenclature ==
{{Anchor|Origin}}
[[File:Modern warehouse with pallet rack storage system.jpg|thumb|A warehouse implementing a pallet rack storage system]]
[[File:Logistics Specialist aboard USS George H.W. Bush.jpg|thumb|A [[logistics specialist]] inventories supplies in a storeroom aboard the aircraft carrier [[USS George H.W. Bush|USS ''George H. W. Bush'']] during [[Operation Enduring Freedom]] in the [[Persian Gulf]] in October 2011.]]
The term ''{{wikt-lang|en|logistics}}'' is attested in English from 1846. It is from {{langx|fr|link=no|logistique}}, where it was either coined or popularized by [[Swiss Armed Forces|Swiss military]] officer and writer [[Antoine-Henri Jomini]], who defined it in his ''Summary of the Art of War'' ({{lang|fr|Précis de l'Art de la Guerre}}). The term appears in the 1830 edition, then titled ''Analytic Table'' (''Tableau Analytique''),<ref name="Jomini1830">{{cite book |title=Tableau Analytique des principales combinaisons De La Guerre, Et De Leurs Rapports Avec La Politique Des États: Pour Servir D'Introduction Au Traité Des Grandes Opérations Militaires |author=Baron de Jomini |author-link=Antoine-Henri Jomini |year=1830 |page= [https://books.google.com/books?id=ofAcWX9UsIUC&q=logistique&pg=PA74 74]}}</ref> and Jomini explains that it is derived from {{langx|fr|{{wikt-lang|fr|logis}}|lit=lodgings}} (cognate to English {{wikt-lang|en|lodge}}), in the terms {{langx|fr|[[maréchal des logis]]|lit=marshall of lodgings}} and {{langx|fr|major-général des logis|lit=major-general of lodging}}:
{{quote|{{langx|fr|Autrefois les officiers de l’état-major se nommaient: maréchal des logis, major-général des logis; de là est venu le terme de logistique, qu’on emploie pour désigner ce qui se rapporte aux marches d’une armée.|label=none|italics=no}}<br />

Formerly the officers of the general staff were named: marshall of lodgings, major-general of lodgings; from there came the term of logistics [''logistique''], which we employ to designate those who are in charge of the functioning of an army.}}

The term is credited to Jomini, and the term and its etymology criticized by {{ill|Georges de Chambray|fr|Georges de Chambray}} in 1832, writing:<ref>{{cite journal|title=Observation sur Le Tableau Analytique des principales combinaisons De La Guerre, Et De Leurs Rapports Avec La Politique Des États: Pour Servir D'Introduction Au Traité Des Grandes Opérations Militaires par le général Jomini. |author-link=:fr:Georges de Chambray |author=Chambray |journal=Le Spectateur militaire: Recueil de science, d'art et d'histoire militaires |year=1832 |language=fr|volume=13 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=N5s8AAAAYAAJ&q=logistique&pg=PA19 |page =19}}</ref>

{{quote|{{langx|fr|italic=unset|''Logistique'': Ce mot me paraît être tout-à-fait nouveau, car je ne l'avais encore vu nulle part dans la littérature militaire. … il paraît le faire dériver du mot ''logis'', étymologie singulière …|label=none}}<br />

''Logistic'': This word appears to me to be completely new, as I have not yet seen it anywhere in military literature. … he appears to derive it from the word ''lodgings'' [''logis''], a peculiar etymology …}}
Chambray also notes that the term {{langx|fr|label=none|logistique}} was present in the ''[[Dictionnaire de l'Académie française]]'' as a synonym for [[algebra]].

The {{langx|fr|logistique|label=French word}} is a [[homonym]] of the existing mathematical term, from {{langx|grc|λογῐστῐκός|logistikós}}, a traditional division of [[Greek mathematics]]; the mathematical term is presumably the origin of the term ''logistic'' in [[logistic growth]] and related terms. Some sources give this instead as the source of ''logistics'',<ref>{{cite journal|first1= J.|last1=Tepic|first2= I.|last2=Tanackov|first3=Gordan|last3= Stojić |title = Ancient logistics – historical timeline and etymology|journal = Technical Gazette |volume =18|year =2011 |url= http://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/fb9f/f927aa0472a4df2635b8b221c4c67d567046.pdf|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20190309153711/http://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/fb9f/f927aa0472a4df2635b8b221c4c67d567046.pdf|url-status= dead|archive-date= 2019-03-09|issue =3|s2cid=42097070}}</ref> either ignorant of Jomini's statement that it was derived from {{langx|fr|label= none |logis}}, or dubious and instead believing it was in fact of Greek origin, or influenced by the existing term of Greek origin.