[OT] Square Root (was Re: fribidi + joining/shaping)

[Roozbeh Pournader <roozbeh at sharif dot edu>]

On Sun, 29 Dec 2002, Youcef Rabah Rahal wrote:

> The square root symbol originates from the word "Jidhr" (Root) and its 
> symbol was a letter "Jeem" (start_of_word Jeem) over a number. So the 
> English sqrt symbol is the Arabic sqrt symbol flipped horizontally ;)

That's worse than a myth. It looks like a bad lie :))))

I have seen a lot of European texts mentioning that the European square
root symbol has originated from the Latin letter "r" (for Root). I don't
need to explain how it changes to a root sign (please use your imagination
just a little) but I guess that needs a lot less than a rotation and a
flip.

Please don't tell things like this publicly. People may start to believe 
them. ;)

roozbeh