Where did algebra get its name?

Answer 1

1551, from M.L. from Arabic al jebr "reunion of broken parts" as in computation, used 9c. by Baghdad mathematician Abu Ja'far Muhammad ibn Musa al-Khwarizmi as the title of his famous treatise on equations ("Kitab al-Jabr w'al-Muqabala" "Rules of Reintegration and Reduction"), which also introduced Arabic numerals to the West. The accent shifted 17c. from second syllable to first. The word was used in Eng. 15c.-16c. to mean "bone-setting," probably from the Arabs in Spain.


"Algebra" comes from the Arabic word al-ğabr, from the book title Al-Kitāb al-mukhtaṣar fī hīsāb al-ğabr wa'l-muqābala by the legendary mathematician Al-Khwarizmi. In the book, al-ğabr is one of the two methods used to solve quadratic equations.

Answer 2

The word algebra is a Latin variant of the Arabic word al-jabr.

Answer 3

al- jebr

(the reunion of fragments)