[Haskell-cafe] Category Theory woes

[Richard O'Keefe]

On Feb 19, 2010, at 3:55 AM, Daniel Fischer wrote:

> Am Donnerstag 18 Februar 2010 14:48:08 schrieb Nick Rudnick:
>> even in Germany, where the
>> term «ring» seems to originate from, since at least a century nowbody
>> has the least idea it once had an alternative meaning  
>> «gang,band,group»,
>
> Wrong. The term "Ring" is still in use with that meaning in  
> composites like
> Schmugglerring, Autoschieberring, ...

The mathematical ring is OED ring n1 sense 12.
The group of people sense is sense 11, immediately above it.
"Drug ring" is still in use.
I'd always assumed "ring" was generalised from Z[n].