Sentence:  For q a power of a prime p, let \mathbb F_q be the finite field of order q. Its multiplicative group \mathbb F^_q is cyclic of order q-1 and a generator of \mathbb F^_q is called a <WSD>"primitive element</WSD>" of F_q. More generally, a <WSD>primitive element</WSD> \gamma of F_{q^n}, the unique extension of degree n of \mathbb F_q, is the root of a (necessarily monic and automatically irreducible) "primitive polynomial" f(x)\in\mathbb F_q[x] of degree n. / ... / Here, necessarily, c must be a <WSD>primitive element</WSD> of \mathbb F_q, since this is the norm of a root of the polynomial. 
Meaning of the word marked with <WSD> tags:  An element that generates the multiplicative group of a given Galois field (finite field).