Radical of a bilinear form

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Given a bilinear form $b$ on a vector space, one defines the radical, which is the set of vectors which are orthogonal (with respect to $b$) to every other vector (so essentially the orthogonal complement of the whole space). My question is: Why is it called radical? Is there an example that motivates this name?

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This goes back, at least, to Witt(1936)

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