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A comment on Arabic Mathematics: Forgotten Brilliance? (1999). Parent comment

Re:Arabic Mathematics: Forgotten Brilliance? (1999) by vinay427 on Wednesday August 07, 2019 @04:44AM (#20632952)
While you are correct in that it is an exonym, it's not exactly what I, and I assume many others today, would think of when you say "colonial." The origin of the word dates back to thousands of years ago when no present government or society existed.

For those who would like to read a little more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Name_of_Iran

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Re:Arabic Mathematics: Forgotten Brilliance? (1999) by C1sc0cat on Wednesday August 07, 2019 @05:45AM (#20633196)
Absolutely its normally used to refer to the Persian "empires" which you know colonised other lands and where a lot larger that Iran is today.
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Re:Arabic Mathematics: Forgotten Brilliance? (1999) by ptah on Wednesday August 07, 2019 @04:52AM (#20632977)
from your link: "In the Western world, Persia (or one of its cognates) was historically the common name for Iran"

so I will stick to saying colonial as it accurately points to the western world as opposed to Africa or Asia for example

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Re:Arabic Mathematics: Forgotten Brilliance? (1999) by vinay427 on Wednesday August 07, 2019 @05:14AM (#20633067)
I don't disagree about the name that should be used, as I said. I just think calling it colonial needs a little more context for people who would not unreasonably assume it's something more similar to Western colonialism of India or something.

On that note, "India"/Hindustan/Hindu/etc. are somewhat similarly colonial-rooted names, ironically popularized by the Iranians.

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Re:Arabic Mathematics: Forgotten Brilliance? (1999) by ptah on Wednesday August 07, 2019 @05:26AM (#20633115)
"western colonialism" is redundant. "colonialism" will suffice :)
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