To treat with digitalis as a heart medication; also, to convert data or information into digital form.
From 'digitalis' (the plant) plus '-ize' suffix meaning to make or convert, OR from 'digital' plus '-ize.' The medical meaning is older, from the foxglove plant whose name comes from Latin 'digitus' (finger).
The fact that 'digitalize' has two unrelated meanings—one ancient (treating hearts with a 500-year-old plant drug) and one modern (converting to computer data)—shows how language fills the same word-shapes for completely new concepts.
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