Subject: origin and meaning of "topos" Date: Sat, 26 Oct 2002 15:45:30 +0200 (MEST) From: Johannes.Huebschmann@agat.univ-lille1.fr (Johannes Huebschmann) To: dmd1@lehigh.edu CC: huebschm@agat.univ-lille1.fr The term "topos" is an ancient Greek word which could be translated into Latin by "locus", which is "lieu"in French. In ancient Greek, "topos" means "place", "locus" (the english word), "area", "place". Some category theorists use the correct Greek Plural which is "topoi". The term "topology" derives from "topos" and "logos" Johannes HUEBSCHMANN Johannes Professeur de Mathématiques USTL, UFR de Mathématiques UMR 8524 AGAT F-59 655 Villeneuve d'Ascq Cédex France TEL. (33) 3 20 43 41 97 (33) 3 20 43 42 33 (secretariat) (33) 3 20 43 48 50 (secretariat) Fax (33) 3 20 43 43 02 e-mail Johannes.Huebschmann@agat.univ-lille1.fr