[huachimingo]

Wait a moment, the casual etimology of that word suggests (at least in spanish) a profession or a science, not "the sum of math and information" per se.

That same suffix, -atica, is also applied in "the mathematic" as the person (-atic) and "The Mathematics" as the science (el Matemático, las Matemáticas).

So lets say that you are a guy from two centuries ago. Someone tells you "this guy has studied informatics, he is the Informatic of the town". That would sound as if he "is versed in the study of information" rather than Computing.

Also, in Spain, instead of "the Computer" (the thing that computes, calculates), they call it "the Order-ator" (Ordenador, the thing that brings order).

[iagovar]

Hmm, where are you from? I'm from norther Spain and those nouns don't suggest anything related to science for me. "El matemático" may be, but just because we associate it with a theoretical field, "Informático" is a practitioner of "Informática", as "Químico" is from "Química".

[anthk]

The computer term in Spain came from the French "ordinateur".

Ordenar has two meanings in Spanish:

- To command someone

- To sort

Both are related. In order to sort some set, you need order. And rules. Thus, "ordenador" has a lot of sense.

But if I was some guy from the 50's I'd translate computer science as "informática electrónica". (Electronic Informatics).