The Group Concept

The word group seems to have originated in Central Europe and to be etymologically akin to the word 'crop'. A mathematical group may profitably be regarded as a mathematical crop for which seeds were being scattered very early in the development of our subject but which received little attention and was not thoughtfully cultivated until recent times. Under such cultivation it has yielded rich harvests whose importance has been increasingly recognized, especially during the last fifty years, and there seems to be no evidence which tends to show that we have as yet fully realised its value and its varied usefulness.