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xiphiasThe etymology of "minute" and "second."
A degree of arc, or an hour of time is broken into sixty minute parts. That's "minute" with the accent on the second syllable, "my-NYOOT", as in "tiny". Then those sixty minute parts can be further broken into sixty second-order-minute parts.
It had honestly never occurred to me to consider the fact that "second" as in "one-Mississippi, two-Mississippi" and "second" as in "after first and before third" might be the same word.
A degree of arc, or an hour of time is broken into sixty minute parts. That's "minute" with the accent on the second syllable, "my-NYOOT", as in "tiny". Then those sixty minute parts can be further broken into sixty second-order-minute parts.
It had honestly never occurred to me to consider the fact that "second" as in "one-Mississippi, two-Mississippi" and "second" as in "after first and before third" might be the same word.
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Date: 2012-03-01 12:10 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2012-03-01 02:15 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2012-03-01 06:04 am (UTC)Which in fact is the duration of a (can't remember the word) demi-scan of American TV: 30 (not "frames") per second, but each of those is composed of two interlaced screens, the odd lines first and then the even ones (or vice versa).
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Date: 2012-03-01 05:59 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2012-03-02 01:22 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2012-03-02 03:34 pm (UTC)Did you happen to find out when they entered the english language? I sort of got the impression the idea came over from the Middle East during the crusades, but I'd like to know for sure (it would also make sense that it was invented by the Babylonians or Greeks or Romans, and came to the British Islands much earlier).
Kiralee