PERMANENT SOURCE RECORD
ALL SOURCES ↗BIBLIOGRAPHIC IDENTITYmw-algebra
SOURCE
RECORD.
One work. Every claim that depends on it. No citation without a consequence you can inspect.
7 PUBLIC LINKS INTO THE GRAPH.
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historical dictionarymw-algebra
Algebra — Word History
- AUTHOR / EDITOR
- Merriam-Webster Editors
- YEAR
- 2026
- PUBLISHER
- Merriam-Webster
- DOI
- Not recorded
- SOURCE TYPE
- historical dictionary
- EXTERNAL RECORD
- OPEN ORIGINAL ↗
011
CONTRARIAN TRUTH CLAIMS
RANKED REVEALS THAT CITE THIS SOURCE
RANK 175GRADE Asupports
Algebra named restoration before it named symbols.
Arabic al-jabr was an operation of restoring or completing an equation—and also had a real bone-setting history.
jabara
jabara → al-jabr → algebra → algebra
Etymology; Arabic al-jabrDocuments restoration or completion as the mathematical source meaning.
algebra dossier ↗truth record ↗84UNVEILING
021
SCHOLARLY DISAGREEMENT
DISPUTE POSITIONS THAT CITE THIS SOURCE
resolvedsupportsestablished
Did algebra originally mean symbols and variables?
No. Al-jabr named restoration or completion, including a specific equation-solving operation; the word later expanded to the discipline.
Arabic al-jabrDocuments restoration or completion as the mathematical source meaning.
032
CANONICAL RELATIONSHIP CLAIMS
EDGES THAT CITE THIS SOURCE
EDGE 88supportsestablished
algebra → algebra
Present-Day English → Medieval Latin · borrowing
- SOUND
- English borrowed the learned form through Medieval Latin and Romance channels, with stress and vowel adaptation.
- MEANING
- A named mathematical art developed into the broad modern discipline.
- SCHOLAR / EDITOR
- Merriam-Webster · Oxford editors
Etymology and First Known UseEDGE 89supportsestablished
algebra → al-jabr
Medieval Latin → Classical Arabic · borrowing
- SOUND
- Arabic al-jabr was adapted into Medieval Latin algebra, retaining the article as part of the word.
- MEANING
- An operation of restoring a subtracted term—and a title phrase—came to name the mathematical discipline; a bone-setting sense also circulated.
- SCHOLAR / EDITOR
- Oxford · MacTutor editors
Arabic al-jabr041
LEXICAL ATTESTATIONS
WITNESSES REPORTED BY THIS SOURCE
algebraSOURCE-REPORTED
algebra
English lexicographic first-use record
OPEN WITNESS 25 ↗050
COMPARATIVE EVIDENCE
COGNATES, DESCENDANTS, AND RELATIVES
No comparative-relative record currently cites this source.
062
GEOGRAPHIC AND TEMPORAL CLAIMS
JOURNEY STAGES THAT CITE THIS SOURCE
stage 3supports
England
Reports Medieval Latin and Arabic al-jabr ancestry and dates the first known English use to 1551.
Word History: Etymology and First Known Use · regionalstage 4supports
Global mathematics
Defines both elementary symbolic algebra and the wider modern family of abstract mathematical and logical systems.
Definitions 1–2 · global070
NON-GENEALOGICAL CONNECTIONS
HISTORICAL CONTEXT, KEPT SEPARATE
No non-genealogical context link currently cites this source.
081
WORD-FAMILY REUSE
DOSSIERS THAT DEPEND ON THIS SOURCE
2 entry-scoped citations map reviewed dossier paths onto the canonical claims above.