The Jacobi nome $q$

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Does anyone know why $q = e^{-\pi K'/K} = e^{\pi i \tau}$ is called the nome? Is there a historical reason? Does the word nome mean something in Latin or German?

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Nome, from the ancient Greek νομός (nomos), from νέμειν (nemein, “to divide”). I imagine this is the etymology.

A little more from Wikipedia, $K$ and $iK'$ are the quarter periods and $\tau=iK'/K$ is called the half-period ratio, which seems to me a division.