minimal pairs

[petegray]

>> First, 'algorithm' is not greek, but comes from Arabic.  The final
>> cluster, however, is probably by analogy to 'logarithm' since it was
>> originally '-ism'.

A simpler source of the analogy is the Greek artihmos = number.

The 1934 edition of the concise Oxford, gives:
  Algorism,  Arabic (decimal) notation ...[f. OF augorisme f. med L.
algorismus f Arab al-Khowarazmi the man of Khiva, surname of a
mathematician;  mod. misspelling -ithm by confus. w. Gk arithmos number]

Striking that both the meaning and the spelling have changed.
In 1934 was this descriptive of actual pronunciation, or prescriptive of
"best" pronunciation?

Peter