The idea of lambda expressions comes from a model of computation invented by the American mathematician Alonzo Church, in which the Greek letter lambda represents functional abstraction. But why that particular letter? Church seems to have liked to tease: asked about his choice, his usual explanation involved accidents of typesetting, but in later years he had an alternative answer: “Eeny, meeny, miny, moe.”
References:
https://mail.mozilla.org/pipermail/es-discuss/2008-December/008520.html
http://www.lisazhang.ca/2012/07/ikea-shopping-and-calculus.html
http://www.wisdomandwonder.com/link/3022/why-church-chose-lambda
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