[NTG-context] OT world history: other measuring systems?
jbf
roma83537 at gmail.com
Wed Jan 26 22:07:40 CET 2022
Just be careful, though (writing as a native English speaker), because
the word 'polymath' for English speaker is not a reference to
mathematicians at all. (Greek/mathē/ means 'learning' not mathematics).
Translators are well aware of the danger of homonyms, and if you go for
a title like Manual for Polymathematicians, then the word is being
wrongly used. There is a word 'polymath' in English, but not
'polymathematician', unless of course you make it clear that it is
merely a play on words. But personally, I'd avoid that.
Julian
On 26/1/22 20:36, Hans Hagen via ntg-context wrote:
> On 1/26/2022 10:23 AM, Jean-Pierre Delange via ntg-context wrote:
>> In line with what Otared writes about the measurement of distances in
>> the context of Persia and ancient Rome, I am always very surprised to
>> see the precision of the measurements in the evaluation of the
>> circumference of the earth by Eratosthenes of Cyrene. What intrigues
>> me is not really the geometry calculations involved, but the
>> calculation of the distance between Aswan and Alexandria. There is
>> little information on the taking of this measurement: is it Egyptian
>> surveyors (bematists: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bematist) or the
>> use of an instrument equivalent to a pedometer? see here:
>> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eratosthenes
> Eratosthenes of Cyrene was a Greek polymath ...
>
> Ah ... that makes a great subtitle for Mikaels upcoming math manual:
> "A manual for polymathematicians"
>
> A polymath (Greek: πολυμαθής, polymathēs, "having learned much";
>
> and then we can talk 'polymathematical typesetting' and such (I'm sure
> that Arthur can come up with a reflective historical tex-talk.)
>
> Hans
>
>
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