crypt- +
-arithm (as in
logarithm), after French
cryptarithmie, alluding to either such problems collectively or to the branch of mathematics dealing with them
Note:
The word cryptarithm was apparently introduced by the Minsk-born Belgian mathematician Maurice Kraitchik (1882-1957) in Mathematical Recreations (New York, 1942), pp. 79-80. Kraitchik states that he has translated French cryptarithmie as "cryptarithmetic," but then refers to an arithmetical operation in which letters have been substituted for numbers as a "cryptarithm." The word cryptarithmie was allegedly introduced by the Belgian mathematician Simon Vatriquant (1892-1966), under the pseudonym "Minos," in the May, 1931, issue of Sphinx: Revue mensuelle des questions récréatives.
