The earliest civilisations realised the need to understand time. Day following day with the rising and setting of the sun and the changes in the appearance of the moon would have been observed. In latitudes further from the equator, the change in the length of the day and the seasons would have been recorded. Before the cultivation of crops, the times of the fruiting of trees and growth of plants will have been noted. To find out more about how the science of time evolved, we can take a look at some of the historical events and the etymology and semantics of some of the terminology used.
In ancient Mesopotamia, even before the 3rd millennium BCE, the Sumerian and Babylonian civilisations had developed methods of counting using the sexagesimal (base-60) system which in turn was based on the duodecimal (base-12) system. These counting systems presumably arose from methods of counting using 12 finger joints, or knuckle bones on one hand and using the 4 fingers plus 1 thumb on the other hand to count each complete sequence of twelve giving 12 x 5 = 60. The composite number 60 has twelve factors, viz., 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 10, 12, 15, 20, 30, and 60. With these factors, fractions are simplified. For example, one hour can be divided evenly into sections of 30 minutes, 20 minutes, 15 minutes, 12 minutes, 10 minutes, 6 minutes, 5 minutes, 4 minutes, 3 minutes, 2 minutes, and 1 minute.
In Babylonian astronomy, a solar year was 360 days, each divided into 12 lunar months of 30 days. Methods of correcting the calendar were also developed, which were needed to take care of the actual lengths of months and days in the year. We make similar corrections with the use of the leap year. In western calendars, we do not use the lunar month. However, in a majority of languages, the word for month is the same as for moon and some countries still maintain calendars using lunar months for cultural or religious reasons. The base-60 system was supplanted for counting by the decimal (base-10) system, such as was used by the Greeks and the Romans, more than two millennia ago. However the base-60 system is still evident in our calendars, timekeeping, and the 360 degrees used on compasses and in trigonometry.
In mediæval times it became the practice to sound a bell to mark the passing of a period of time. From this use of the bell we have the English word clock: (ca. 1350-1400, Middle English clokke, Middle Dutch clocke, Old French cloque, from Mediæval Latin clocca, “bell”). The mechanical mechanisms that were later developed for timekeeping, were referred to as clocks, whether bells were used, or not. They were at first only found in important places, but after they became smaller, portable and more widely available, they eventually became household items.
In looking for words to describe clocks and how they display time information, we were drawn to Greek and Latin words that often are chosen to name or describe technical items, or their functions. The word hour (Latin hora from Greek ὥρα [hṓra]) means time and is more specifically used for the time period of sixty minutes. This word in various forms is used in most Romance languages and some other European languages for asking the time. Horology is the term used for the study of time (Latin horologium from Greek ὡρολόγιον [horólogion]), meaning an instrument for telling the hour, or time. Interestingly in German Glocke still means bell and Uhr is used for clock, whereas in Dutch, klok means clock and can still mean a large bronze church bell.
The word Chronos (Greek: Χρόνος, [kʰrónos]) meaning time, stands out as the personification of time in ancient Greek philosophy and is usually portrayed as an old man carrying a scythe. We have our Father Time, also with a scythe and sometimes carrying an hourglass. From chronos, we have the word chronograph, where graph comes from the Greek word γράφϵιν [graphein], “to write”. The term is now often used to denote an accurate timepiece, but was originally an instrument that could both accurately measure and record the time.
We also have the word chronography, from the Greek word χρονογραφίον, [kʰronographion]. Its original archaic meaning is a chronicle, or chronological record of past events, or history. The plural is χρονογραφία [kʰronographia], chronographia, meaning chronological records. Reduced to its simplest meaning, the word Chronographia could take the meaning Descriptions of Time – we like it.
To add to the discussion of the subject of time, Timely Quotations will appear at the bottom of each page and change, when the page is refreshed. They are taken from comments and writings on the subject over the ages. Finally to add some humour to the subject, we wish to share a satirical 4-minute video on the subject featuring the British comedienne Diane Morgan playing the character Philomena Cunk. For non-native English speakers, it should be pointed out that this polished BBC production derives its humour from the grammatical errors, bizarre statements and a funny malapropism, all delivered in a broad Lancashire accent.