Re: Universal Measures

Christophe Grandsire wrote:

> >The next levels are "zepto" and "yocto" for 1E-21 and 1E-24, and
> >"zetta" and "yotta" for 1E21 and 1E24.  These are obviously
> >Anglicized French for "seven" and "eight".
> >
>
>         I really learned zetto and yotto, maybe there are various manners to
> write it (I like zetto and yotto for the parallel with zetta and yotta).
I think that would be *too* parallel, too easy to get wrong.

>         Do they really come from French? If so, I wonder why. Do you know
> the story of those suffixes, when and how they were chosen?
Actually, I don't *know* anything, I just assumed that "zept/zet" was a
variant of "sept".  As for "yoct/yot", it's tied to Romance
(but not French) "octo-" quite plainly.

For the others, most have intelligible Greek or Latin etymologies,
although "femto" and "atto" are founded on the Danish for "15" and "18".

--
John Cowan      http://www.ccil.org/~cowan              cowan@ccil.org
        You tollerday donsk?  N.  You tolkatiff scowegian?  Nn.
        You spigotty anglease?  Nnn.  You phonio saxo?  Nnnn.
                Clear all so!  'Tis a Jute.... (Finnegans Wake 16.5)