'Recur' is Latin for 'run back to the start' — and computing borrowed this image as 'recursion.'
To happen again or repeatedly; to return to one's mind; to go back to something in thought or discussion.
From Latin 'recurrere' (to run back, to return), composed of 're-' (back, again) and 'currere' (to run). The PIE root is *ḱers- (to run), which also underlies Latin 'cursus' (course), 'curriculum' (a running, a race course), and 'cursor' (one who runs). The literal Latin sense was to run back — to return to a starting point, to retrace one's path. The figurative meaning 'to happen again' developed from this: a recurring event is one
The computing term 'recursion' — a function that calls itself — is pure Latin. A recursive function 'runs back' to its own beginning and starts again, exactly as Latin 'recurrere' describes. The classic programmer's joke ('To understand recursion, you must first understand recursion') is an accidental etymology lesson: recursion literally means running back to where you started.
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