An Etymological Dictionary of Astronomy and Astrophysics
English-French-Persian

Likely to happen or to be true; likely but uncertain.

From O.Fr. probable, from L. probabilis "provable," from probare "to try, to test, to prove worthy," from probus "worthy, good, upright, virtuous," from PIE *pro-bhwo- "being in front," from *pro-, extended form of base *per- (cf. Pers. farâ "forward, front"), + base *bhu- "to be" (cf. Pers. budan "to be").

Šavânâ (on the model of tavânâ "able, strong", from tav- "to be able"), from šow- present stem of šodan "to become, to be, to be doing, to go, to pass," from Mid.Pers. šudan, šaw- "to go;" Av. š(ii)auu-, šiyav- "to move, go," šiyavati "goes," šyaoθna- "activity; action; doing, working;" O.Pers. šiyav- "to go forth, set," ašiyavam "I set forth;" cf. Skt. cyu- "to move to and fro, shake about; to stir," cyávate "stirs himself, goes;" Gk. kinein "to move;" Goth. haitan "call, be called;" O.E. hatan "command, call;" PIE base *kei- "to move to and fro."

A deviation from the population mean μ such that 50% of the observations may be expected to lie between μ - PE and μ + PE. For the normal distribution, the probable error is 0.6745 times the standard deviation.

→ probable; → error.