MHB Why is the letter m used for slope instead of s?

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Why is the lower case letter m used to represent slope?

Doesn't it make more sense to use the letter s to represent slope, you know, s for slope?
 
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In Calculus, "s" usually denotes curve length, at least as I am familiar with it. A quick web search fails to turn up any specific reason as to why slope is denoted "m".
 
http://mathhelpboards.com/pre-calculus-21/letter-m-slope-20683.html

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I forgot that I had already asked this question back in February 2017.
 

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