I always remember c as the constant speed of light [in a vacuum], but never pondered the actual origin beyond the perhaps rudimentary algebra “x, y, z are variables and a, b, c are constants”.
I don’t think I thought c came from “constant”, because that’s a very English-centric view of science, but the annoying thing about reading a smart article like this is that it’s impossible to explore the depths of how your mind worked before acquiring the knowledge!
As a tongue in cheek remark, it is English-centric to think that using c for constants is an English-centric view of science. French, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, Romanian, all use the same word of Latin origin.
I don’t think I thought c came from “constant”, because that’s a very English-centric view of science, but the annoying thing about reading a smart article like this is that it’s impossible to explore the depths of how your mind worked before acquiring the knowledge!