Descartes
/dəˈkɑːrt/; French /də kaʁt/noun
Descartes is the surname of René Descartes, the 17th-century French philosopher and mathematician, and the name of a French town.
Did you know?René Descartes’ famous method of doubt helped establish modern philosophical rationalism, while his mathematical work gave us the Cartesian coordinate system.
Etymological Timeline
Proto-Indo-European, proposed root
PIE
*gher-
“To scratch, scrape, or mark; a proposed ancestral root connected with writing and incised marks.”
Ancient Greek
Greek
khártēs
“Papyrus or sheet of paper used for writing.”
Classical Latin
Latin
charta
“A written document, paper, or map.”
Medieval French
Old French
carte
“A sheet of paper, document, map, or playing card.”
16th–17th Century
French
Descartes
“The hereditary surname of René Descartes; its precise family-name origin is not securely established as a literal “of cards” translation.”
Modern English
English
Descartes
“Usually refers to René Descartes or to concepts associated with him, such as Cartesian coordinates and mind–body dualism.”