Just a Moment

Odd Words, Even Numbers devotes quite a few pages to the words of time.

Spare a moment also for the word moment, the dictionary definition of which is “a very short period of time”. As with so-called “Empty Numbers” discussed in Chapter 15, moment does not carry with it any indication of a specific interval of time. Indeed, the Oxford English Dictionary defines it as a portion of time too brief to be taken into account.

But that was not always the case. Back in the Middle Ages before we had mechanical clocks, the Latin word momentum (from which we derive moment) indicated a specific period of time variously meaning a quarter of a minute (the Venerable Bede (d. 735)) or 1/40th of an hour (Byrhtferth (d. 1020)). There was little consistency because terms used to describe divisions of time varied in meaning according to the interval between sunrise and sunset on any day and so indicated differing intervals of time according to the season. This confusion continued until we arrived at our current system with terms which have a precise mathematical meaning such as the 24 hours or 1440 minutes or 86,400 seconds which constitute each day.

Most of the Latin terms used in technical chronology then fell away. However, momentum managed to cling on as moment but with a less specific meaning much as have words like myriad – (now meaning a huge number or countless but originally meaning ten thousand) and decimate – (now, to kill or remove a large proportion but originally meaning to reduce by one tenth).

For more fasincating numerical facts, check out Odd Words, Even Numbers today!

By Ian Paterson
23 May 2017

Photo by Raphael Schaller on Unsplash

Posted on May 23 2017 by Chris Vince

 

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