How did the terms "center" and "centralizer" come up in group theory?

Usually the word center means the center of a circle. I have encountered the word center in group theory, but do not see any connection with the center of a circle. I think the history of group theory probably has something to do with it.

Can anyone tell me how the terms center and centralizer came up in group theory?

I have searched for "center in group theory" here, but it was not previously asked, and did not get anything from the web either.

• The English usage of center of a group presumably is merely a translation of the German Zentrum. But that merely moves the question to the reason for the German terminology. I looked in my old German copy of van der Waerden, but he give no reason for the term Zentrum. Sep 10 '18 at 11:48
• We denote the center of a group Z(G) precisely because it came from German practice. Sep 11 '18 at 12:59
• Jan 25 '19 at 11:14

Ainsi l’ensemble des éléments normaux de $\mathrm G$ est un diviseur normal qui sera dit central de $\mathrm G$.