1
Stage 1 of 5
jya
Sanskrit · ancient
"bowstring; chord of an arc"
meant 'bowstring', used for the trigonometric chord of an arc
2
Stage 2 of 5
jiba
Arabic · medieval
"chord of an arc (a meaningless transliteration in Arabic)"
Arab mathematicians phonetically transliterated the Sanskrit term
3
Stage 3 of 5
jaib
Arabic · medieval
"fold, bosom, bay"
later writers mistook 'jiba' for the real Arabic word 'jaib'
4
Stage 4 of 5
sinus
Latin · 1150
"a fold, curve, bay"
Gherardo of Cremona translated the Arabic word by its Latin equivalent
5
Stage 5 of 5
sine
English · 1590s
"a fundamental trigonometric function"
adopted from Latin sinus as the name of the trigonometric function
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