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Nice. Everyone knows about algorithm, right? From Wikipedia: > The word "Algorithm", or "Algorism" in some other writing versions, comes from the name al-Khw
by DanBC2 14y ago
Nice.
Everyone knows about algorithm, right?
From Wikipedia:
> The word "Algorithm", or "Algorism" in some other writing versions, comes from the name al-Khwārizmī, pronounced in classical Arabic as Al-Khwarithmi. Al-Khwārizmī (Persian: الخوارزمي, c. 780-850) was a Persian mathematician, astronomer, geographer and a scholar in the House of Wisdom in Baghdad, whose name means "the native of Khwarezm", a city that was part of the Greater Iran during his era and now is in modern day Uzbekistan. He wrote a treatise in the Arabic language during the 9th century, which was translated into Latin in the 12th century under the title Algoritmi de numero Indorum. This title means "Algoritmi on the numbers of the Indians", where "Algoritmi" was the translator's Latinization of Al-Khwarizmi's name.
- madaxe 14y agoAnd algebra and alchemy (chemistry) and the list goes on. We have a lot to thank the Arabic world for.
- knv 14y agoAnd alcohol of course.
- contingencies 14y agoBut surely you jest! Of course, you allude to hashish and opium.
- shn 14y agoAnd for the modern day drug sold at every corner a.k.a. coffee
- madaxe 14y agoWhich contains the alkaloid, caffeine!
- madaxe 14y agoThe word, yes, but the etymology is more related to the idea of alcohol being an 'essence' of something.
- eli_gottlieb 14y agoActually, al-cohol roughly means "the blue", referring to the blue tint of many alcohol-based make-ups used in the Near East in ancient and medieval times.
- deleted 14y ago[deleted]
- saljam 14y agoWhile on the subject of words with Arabic etymological roots, my personal favourite is Betelgeuse. The Arabic name of the star is يد الجوزاء (yad al-Jauzā) which means "the hand of the Jauzā". But after a few medieval translation it got morphed into it's current name. Which, unfortunately, ended up sounding like, and often back translated as, ابط الجوزاء -- literally "the armpit of the Jauzā"!
- teeboy 14y agoKhwarizmi was a great guy. But it will be nice to cite his influences as well - like he introduced Indian Numerals (Which the world wrongly calls Arabic Numerals).His work in Algebra is based on previous work from Indian and Greek sources. Surely that doesn't make him father of Algebra. However, his other controbutions are stupendous and one of the first treatise in Math worth recollecting. Persian history has indeed contributed many great things to the world (And please don't use it interchangeably with Arab or Arabic).