Not having the article at hand, may I suggest you to take a look at
Jacobi's _Fundamenta nova theoriae functionum ellipticarum_ ("New
Foundations of the Theory of Elliptic Functions") Koenigsberg, 1829.
[Cf _Gesammelte Werke_ vol 1].
Kind regards,
Julio Gonzalez Cabillon
> I know that the term nome is explained in the OED as one half of
> a binomial, so to speak. But they give no reference to its use
> to name the q in elliptic theta functions (theta(z,q)), and it is
> the q of q-series as well. I can jimmy up some explanation, I
> imagine, but what I want is what the originator of the term had
> in mind. The other names for the independent variable for elliptic
> functions, such as the modulus, the argument, and the period ratio,
> tau (ln q = i pi tau), I have no trouble with. And I assume theta
> comes from temperature, since the theta functions appear (not for
> the first time, to be sure) in Fourier's treatise on the theory of
> heat.