5 ms·

Is it? I can only think of (the very frequently noted) ‘algebra’ and ‘algorithm’.

by xanderlewis 2y ago

nicwilson 2y ago
azimuth is the only other one I can think of off the top of my head
- dredmorbius 2y ago
  You'll find "zenith" at your feet.
  - samatman 2y ago
    You're thinking of nadir, also Arabic. The zenith is in the opposite direction.
    - dredmorbius 2y ago
      Gah! So much for my wit.
rsynnott 2y ago
Also ‘zero’, and ‘cipher’ (which, oddly, derive from the same word). And ‘average’. There are a few of them.
- dizhn 2y ago
  Not math but I just learned alkali is the word for "ash" in Arabic.
- xanderlewis 2y ago
  Interesting. I'm not sure we can really call these arabic-derived, though. They do seem to ultimately trace back to fairly unrelated arabic words, but their first use in mathematics (much later) seems to have come in the form of a mixture of words from European languages. The two examples I gave seem to be more legitimately Arabic in origin.
ajmurmann 2y ago
Dolphin, music (from muse), logic, ethics, physics, mathematics, pharmacy, angel, comedy, drama. The list of Greek loan words that are shared by many European languages goes on and on Edit: I think almost every word with "ph" in it is from Greek and "th" in languages other than English.
- lolinder 2y ago
  They're asking about Arabic loanwords.
- FredPret 2y ago
  If you add all Latin words with Greek origins, most European languages are really forms of Greek
dudeinjapan 2y ago
And “alcohol”, frequently consumed at science and math conferences
- Sharlin 2y ago
  "Alcohol" has a very interesting etymology, too.
DiggyJohnson 2y ago
As others have said, there are a few celestial terms that come to mind: - azimuth - zenith - nadir Also some chemistry terms, again just from top of brain, might be wrong: - alchemy - elixir - arsenic - alkali
- deleted 2y ago
  [deleted]
- xanderlewis 2y ago
  Nadir always seemed very obviously Arabic to me. Weirdly, I first encountered it in a book on category theory, and only after that did I start to hear it used in everyday English to mean the opposite of 'apex'.
  - samatman 2y ago
    It's the opposite of zenith, another word ultimately derived from Arabic. The difference between an apex and a zenith is that an apex exists as a point in space, while a zenith is a direction, with no fixed point which may be said to be "the" zenith. There are other differences given that apex has a few related meanings, but this is the main one.
    - xanderlewis 2y ago
      Ah, yes. I knew it wasn’t quite the right word.
- pfdietz 2y ago
  Sofa!

Is it? I can only think of (the very frequently noted) ‘algebra’ and ‘algorithm’.

nicwilson 2y ago

azimuth is the only other one I can think of off the top of my head

dredmorbius 2y ago
You'll find "zenith" at your feet.
- samatman 2y ago
  You're thinking of nadir, also Arabic. The zenith is in the opposite direction.
  - dredmorbius 2y ago
    Gah! So much for my wit.

rsynnott 2y ago

Also ‘zero’, and ‘cipher’ (which, oddly, derive from the same word). And ‘average’. There are a few of them.

dizhn 2y ago
Not math but I just learned alkali is the word for "ash" in Arabic.
xanderlewis 2y ago
Interesting. I'm not sure we can really call these arabic-derived, though. They do seem to ultimately trace back to fairly unrelated arabic words, but their first use in mathematics (much later) seems to have come in the form of a mixture of words from European languages. The two examples I gave seem to be more legitimately Arabic in origin.

ajmurmann 2y ago

Dolphin, music (from muse), logic, ethics, physics, mathematics, pharmacy, angel, comedy, drama. The list of Greek loan words that are shared by many European languages goes on and on Edit: I think almost every word with "ph" in it is from Greek and "th" in languages other than English.

lolinder 2y ago
They're asking about Arabic loanwords.
FredPret 2y ago
If you add all Latin words with Greek origins, most European languages are really forms of Greek

dudeinjapan 2y ago

And “alcohol”, frequently consumed at science and math conferences

Sharlin 2y ago
"Alcohol" has a very interesting etymology, too.

DiggyJohnson 2y ago

As others have said, there are a few celestial terms that come to mind: - azimuth - zenith - nadir Also some chemistry terms, again just from top of brain, might be wrong: - alchemy - elixir - arsenic - alkali

deleted 2y ago
[deleted]
xanderlewis 2y ago
Nadir always seemed very obviously Arabic to me. Weirdly, I first encountered it in a book on category theory, and only after that did I start to hear it used in everyday English to mean the opposite of 'apex'.
- samatman 2y ago
  It's the opposite of zenith, another word ultimately derived from Arabic. The difference between an apex and a zenith is that an apex exists as a point in space, while a zenith is a direction, with no fixed point which may be said to be "the" zenith. There are other differences given that apex has a few related meanings, but this is the main one.
  - xanderlewis 2y ago
    Ah, yes. I knew it wasn’t quite the right word.
pfdietz 2y ago
Sofa!