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

1) General: To assign or allot for a particular purpose.
2) Computers: To assign an amount of resource (disk, memory, CPU time, etc.) to a defined user.

From M.L. allocate imperative plural of allocare "allocate," from → ad- "to" + locare "to place," from locus "a place."

Teskidan, from tesk "portion, share, part, lot; a tax upon lands, tribute extracted," variants tešk, toxs (kardan) "distribute, divide;" loaned in Ar. tisq, tasq; tasu "a weight of four barley corns; the twenty-forth part of a weight;" Mid.Pers. tasû "the fourth part," loaned in Ar. tassûj, in Syriac tassûgâ "the fourth part; a measure;" ultimately Proto-Ir. *caçû-ka-; cf. Av. caθwarô, catur-, → four.

Computers: To cancel the assignment of a particular resource to a user.

→ dis- + → allocate.