'System' is Greek for 'things placed together' — from 'syn-' + 'histanai' (to stand). Kin to 'stand.'
A set of connected things or parts forming a complex whole; an organized scheme or method.
From Late Latin 'systēma,' from Greek 'sýstēma' (σύστημα, organized whole, composition), from 'synistánai' (to place together, to combine), from 'syn-' (together) + 'histánai' (to cause to stand, to set up), from PIE *steh₂- (to stand). A system is, at root, 'things made to stand together' — components set upright in relation to one another. The same PIE
In ancient Greek music theory, 'sýstēma' referred to a scale or an arrangement of musical intervals — notes 'standing together' in a structured relationship. The modern sense of 'system' as any organized structure grew from this musical usage, making every modern computer system, political system, and solar system a distant metaphorical descendant of Greek music theory.
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