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Etymology of the word register

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slugrustle:
Does anyone know the etymology for the word "register" as used in microcontrollers?  Where does it come from, historically?

TimFox:
A typical dictionary definition of the term "register" before its use in computers:
"a written record containing regular entries of items or details"
as in an old-fashioned hotel register where guests write their names and contact information in the book.

cantata.tech:
Sure.

Before I say anything, I need to point out that the origins of the word are contested on the internet and it's now claimed to be a 'Christian' word coming from Latin (Etruscan). I find it to be older than that.

"Register" is based on the old Phoenician particle 'gimmel'.

The root particle is gér. That means "Hold" something. Also coins, money, War, arm or weapons.

Also carried through French/Gallic as the word 'ongérer' or Guerre.

Therefore the word "re+gi+ster" literally means 'temporary holding thing'.

brucehoult:

--- Quote from: slugrustle on February 02, 2023, 02:48:03 am ---Does anyone know the etymology for the word "register" as used in microcontrollers?  Where does it come from, historically?

--- End quote ---

If you're content to go back only a few hundred years, Babbage used the term in his difference engine around 1820, as did people making simple adding machines in the early 1600s.

No doubt they got it from accountants.

SiliconWizard:
Yes a register is simply some support where you'd store some information. The term has been used for a lot of purposes in the past, it goes way beyond accountants.
A common form of the same word is "registry", which is more about the medium where information is recorded.

It comes from the latin "registrum".
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/registrum

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