Binomio y binómino, la confluencia de dos nombres en textos matemáticos renacentistas: algunas consideraciones etimológicas sobre la designación de las expresiones algebraicas

Abstract

The following paper consist in a review, analysis and etymological proposal for two names: binomio and binómino, employed by mathematical writers of the sixteenth century, to designate «the algebraic expression consisting of two terms». The coexistence of both words contribute to the creation of two paradigms of algebraic expressions: the forms in -nomio: trinomio, cuadrinomio, etc., on one side, and forms in -nónimo, trinómino and cuatrinómino, now extinct, on the other; whose etymologies pose a controversial issue in some of the Spanish lexical repertoires of reference, as the dictionary of the RAE, and in other Romance languages. Reason for we believe that this approach may shed some light on studies of the Spanish language history, specifically, the mathematical terminology to Algebra.