The mathematical word “algebra” entered English from Arabic. It comes from al-jabr, a term in the title of a ninth-century treatise by the Persian mathematician Muḥammad ibn Mūsā al-Khwārizmī.
The Arabic title is commonly translated as The Compendious Book on Calculation by Completion and Balancing. In the work, al-Khwarizmi explained systematic methods for solving linear and quadratic equations. The word al-jabr referred to restoring or completing an equation by moving terms between its sides.
The treatise was later translated into Latin, helping transmit algebraic methods from the Islamic world into medieval Europe. Al-Khwarizmi’s name also influenced the mathematical term “algorithm.”
Arabic supplied the word, but algebra itself developed through contributions from several cultures, including Babylonian, Greek, Indian, Persian, and Islamic mathematicians. The word’s origin therefore does not mean that only one civilization contributed to the subject.