The etymological origin of the term enumeration is found in Latin. Specifically, it derives from the word “enumeratio”, which is the result of the sum of the following lexical components:
-The prefix “ex-”, which means “outwards”.
-The noun “numerus”, which can be translated as “number”.
-The suffix “-cion”, which is used to indicate “action and effect”.
The term refers to the act and result of enumerating : the orderly and successive enunciation of the components of a set .
For example: “The list of awards this writer received is very extensive” , “I am not interested in listing everything you have done for this company in the past: I need you to work seriously and with commitment today” , “The governor “He dedicated most of his speech to listing the achievements of his administration.”
In the field of mathematics and computer science, enumeration consists of making a complete and exact list of the elements that are part of a set . If we consider the set of “Odd positive integers that are greater than 2 and less than 10” , the enumeration of its components will be as follows: “3, 5, 7 and 9” .
This definition also helps us understand what enumeration is in a broader sense. If we think about the South American countries that have Portuguese as their official language as a group, the enumeration of their elements will be limited to the mention of “Brazil” . On the other hand, the group of South American countries with Spanish as an official language requires a broader listing ( “Argentina, Chile, Paraguay, Bolivia, Ecuador, Colombia, Venezuela, Peru and Uruguay” ).
In the same way, we cannot ignore the fact that in the field of literature there is what is known as rhetorical enumeration. Specifically, under that name there is a literary figure that is characterized because it consists of proceeding to accumulate what are words but without following any criteria. What's more, these are words that have no relationship with each other.
An example of a rhetorical enumeration would be, for example, accumulating words such as devil, truck, bakery, infinity, galaxy...
It should also be noted that this type of enumeration was widely used by the authors of expressionism and that they found in it the possibility of making clear the vital anguish that assailed them.
Among the examples of the aforementioned chaotic enumeration left by well-known writers is that of Jorge Luis Borges: “Hyacinths, angels, libraries, labyrinths, anchors, Uxmal, infinity, zero.”
In the field of rhetoric , a quick enunciation of different ideas or parts of a concept is known as an enumeration. The notion can also refer to the fragment of an epilogue dedicated to briefly repeating reasons that were previously presented and to the figure of accumulation consisting of the sum of linguistic elements that are presented in a coordinated manner through juxtaposition or conjunctions.
Likewise, we cannot ignore what is known as descriptive enumeration, which is included in expository texts and whose objective is to offer the reader in an orderly manner the information that we want to give them.