The following is from page 1 of Lectures on symplectic geometry, *Lectures on symplectic geometry* by Ana Cannas da Silva:
As a curiousity, note that two centuries ago the name symplectic did not exist.
If you consult a major English dictionary, you are likely to find that
symplectic is the name of a bone in a fish's head. However ... the word
symplectic in mathematics was coined by Weyl who substituted the Latin root in
complex by the corresponding Greek root, in order to label the symplectic group.
As a curiousity, note that two centuries ago the name symplectic geometry did not exist. If you consult a major English dictionary, you are likely to find that symplectic is the name of a bone in a fish's head. However ... the word symplectic in mathematics was coined by Weyl who substituted the Latin root in complex by the corresponding Greek root in order to label the symplectic group. Weyl thus avoided that this group connote the complex numbers, and also spared us from much confusion that would have arisen, had the name remained the former one in honor of Abel: abelian linear group.
