TITLE: Origins of names of algebraic structures
QUESTION [43 upvotes]: Consider the names of basic algebraic structures: 'group', 'ring', 'space', 'field', 'Körper', even the name 'structure' itself  - all of them time-honoured terms, deeply rooted in our history and culture. 
But what has an algebraic field to do with an acre? What has an algebraic group to do with a group of people?
Even when it's known who coined these names (of algebraic structures), it's not obvious why they were choosen and what the connection is between the named structures and what was named originally (or later on). Only those who coined the names could tell.

Are there etymological studies concerning
  these names - 'group', 'ring',
  'space', 'field',... - which
  elucidate this connection?

REPLY [15 votes]: For the origin of all names, see: http://jeff560.tripod.com/mathword.html
For the origin of all symbols, see: http://jeff560.tripod.com/mathsym.html