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Re: number bases (was without subject)

From:Tristan McLeay <zsau@...>
Date:Wednesday, January 14, 2004, 11:49
On Tue, 13 Jan 2004, David Zitzelsberger wrote:

> If this is true for such a wide area, where did the arabics come up with > base 10? > > Also I believe the Babylonias (I fairly sure the Egyptians) had a seven-day > week because of the number of wanderers (greek word is planet) in the > heavens. > Planet English Spainish > Sun Sunday > Moon Monday Lunes > Mars Tuesday Martes > Mercury Wednesday Miercoles > Jupiter Thursday Jueves > Venus Friday Viernes > Saturn Saturday Sabado > > More of the roots are visible in Spainish. > > Tuesday was named after Tiw - god of war, so it's mars in a norse setting > Wednesday was named after Odin - god mixed up there. > Thursday was named after Thor - god of thunder, just like Jupiter was in > charge of in addition to being chief god. > Friday was named after Freya - goddess of love, so its venus in a norse > setting
Well, no, they were named after Tiw, Woden, Þunor (admittedly influenced by Þor i.e. Thor), and Frig, who would've become Tew/Tue, Woden (or Wooden?), Thunder and Fry had they survived (oddies are due to i-mutation in genetives, e.g. Woden -> Wedenes). Minor technicality, but English Isn't Old Norse. -- Tristan.
> -----Original Message----- > From: Mark J. Reed [mailto:markjreed@MAIL.COM] > Sent: Tuesday, January 13, 2004 11:17 AM > To: CONLANG@LISTSERV.BROWN.EDU > Subject: Re: number bases (was without subject) > > Undoubtedly, although most of the ones I know have the same > predisposition to base 12. This is no doubt due to the influence > of the ancient Babylonians, who I believe had two counting systems, > base 12 and base 60 (which adds five to the list of factors). > This is why we have 360 degrees in a circle, 60 seconds in each of > 60 minutes of both arc and time, a 12-hour clock, etc. And > in ancient Rome units were divided up into twelfths for convenience; > our word "ounce" comes from "uncia" which means 1/12, and in the > Troy system a pound is indeed 12 ounces, although in the avoirdupois > system it has grown to 16, matching the 16 fluid ounces in an (American > and old British wine) pint, which is supposed to be hold a pound of water > and is where the whole idea of a "fluid ounce" comes from. > > Wow. Let me catch my breath after that run-on. Whew. > > On the other hand, those same ancient Babylonians also gave us the seven-day > week, which is a prime number. Go figure. > > -Mark >
-- Tristan