ANATOCISMS, an furious contract, wherein the interests arising from the principal sum are added to the principal itself, and interest exacted upon the whole. The word is originally Greek, but used by Cicero in Latin; whence it is descended into most other languages. It comes from the preposition ἀνά, which in composition signifies repetition or duplication, and ὑστερήσις, usury. Anatocism is what we properly call interest upon interest, or compound interest. This is the worst kind of usury, and has been severely condemned by the Roman law, as well as by the common laws of most other countries. See INTEREST.