Reckoning

Reckoning refers to the act of counting, calculating, or determining a total, as well as the record or account kept of such calculations. It can denote the result of a computation or the process of establishing an amount, estimate, or balance.

The word derives from Old English gerecnian, related to German rechnen and Dutch rekenen, with cognates in Norse and Gothic. Over time, it broadened from numerical counting to broader senses of estimation, consideration, and judgment.

In practice, reckoning appears in mathematics and accounting to describe calculation and settlement of accounts; in finance, a reckoning refers to balancing ledgers or settling debts. In navigation and astronomy, dead reckoning is a method of estimating a position by course, speed, and time. In timekeeping, calendar or historical reckonings refer to methods of measuring years and eras.

In religious and moral contexts, the day of reckoning is a judgment by a divine authority, and reckoning can mean moral accounting or accountability for actions. The term also appears in literature and everyday speech to signal a decisive confrontation or the need to address consequences, as in “face one's reckoning” or “reckon with.”

Reckoning is thus a polysemous term spanning computation, accounting, time measurement, navigation, and moral or eschatological judgment.