English Words from Arabic
sine
الجَيْب
jayb
Indian astronomers called the half-chord jīvā, "bowstring". Arabic wrote it with its letters, jyb, as a term of science. But jayb is also an Arabic word, "the fold of a garment", and Latin translators took it in that sense, rendering it sinus, "fold" – hence sine.
- Meaning in Arabic
- in trigonometry, the half-chord of an arc
- Before Arabic
- Sanskrit jīvā, "bowstring"
- Arabic today says
- الجَيْب
The path between languagesjīvā → jayb → sinus → sine
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