4 ms·

My takeaway from your post is probably completely surprising to some, but: A trapezium is a table? (Checks etymonline) And apparently indeed, trapezium comes f

My takeaway from your post is probably completely surprising to some, but: A trapezium is a table? (Checks etymonline) And apparently indeed, trapezium comes from a Greek word that means "little table" from "trapeza" meaning table. The things you learn. (For those who can't read Greek, the Greek writing in YeGoblynQueenne's post are "to trapezi" and "ena pouli". I can read Greek since my mother studied Christian theology and had the alphabet in prominent display to help her learn it, but I can't understand a word of it.)

close04 7y ago
> I can read Greek since my mother studied Christian theology I can read (a reasonable amount of) Greek after studying a lot of physics/math :D. But I only understand the words that trickled into the other languages I speak or can recognize a root for.
- YeGoblynQueenne 7y ago
  Yes, that's another interesting experience- how other people pronounce Greek letters and words that they've learned from science textbooks. Sometimes I forget myself and say something in a Greek way and people just stare at me :) E.g. I was working on a paper with my thesis advisor and I used the plural of "lemma", "lemmata" (λήμμα, λήμματα). It's actually in the English dictionary, but he advised me to say "lemmas" instead because people reading the paper may not be native English speakers and it would just make the text harder to read. I always want to sneak in fancy words in my papers, but it's a bit tricky to do it right..
YeGoblynQueenne 7y ago
Hah. Yes, it's the same word. Or same word-root anyway. Interestingly, a "table" as in a matrix, is called a "pinakas" (πίνακας). Which translates as "board" to English (as in whiteboard, cheeseboard etc). Have you ever visited Greece? It would be a strange experience, being able to read all the signs but not knowing what they mean. I know because I was in Bulgaria for a conference this summer and I could read everything... but understand not a word :) That's because it's all in a Cyrillic alphabet which is very similar to the Greek alphabet (it's partly derived from it). Come to think of it, so is the Latin alphabet, but I'm used to seeing Latin signs everywhere, including in Greece.
- nicoburns 7y ago
  As a native english speaker who also speaks some french and spanish, I had the opposite experience: I had trouble deciphering the alphabet at speed, but once I had I could often understand the word based on it's similarity to spanish (e.g. Σάββατο / Sábado) or english (έξοδος / exit).
jhbadger 7y ago
And a trapezoid is called that because it is like a table, with a flat part on top.

close04 7y ago

> I can read Greek since my mother studied Christian theology I can read (a reasonable amount of) Greek after studying a lot of physics/math :D. But I only understand the words that trickled into the other languages I speak or can recognize a root for.

YeGoblynQueenne 7y ago
Yes, that's another interesting experience- how other people pronounce Greek letters and words that they've learned from science textbooks. Sometimes I forget myself and say something in a Greek way and people just stare at me :) E.g. I was working on a paper with my thesis advisor and I used the plural of "lemma", "lemmata" (λήμμα, λήμματα). It's actually in the English dictionary, but he advised me to say "lemmas" instead because people reading the paper may not be native English speakers and it would just make the text harder to read. I always want to sneak in fancy words in my papers, but it's a bit tricky to do it right..

YeGoblynQueenne 7y ago

Hah. Yes, it's the same word. Or same word-root anyway. Interestingly, a "table" as in a matrix, is called a "pinakas" (πίνακας). Which translates as "board" to English (as in whiteboard, cheeseboard etc). Have you ever visited Greece? It would be a strange experience, being able to read all the signs but not knowing what they mean. I know because I was in Bulgaria for a conference this summer and I could read everything... but understand not a word :) That's because it's all in a Cyrillic alphabet which is very similar to the Greek alphabet (it's partly derived from it). Come to think of it, so is the Latin alphabet, but I'm used to seeing Latin signs everywhere, including in Greece.

nicoburns 7y ago
As a native english speaker who also speaks some french and spanish, I had the opposite experience: I had trouble deciphering the alphabet at speed, but once I had I could often understand the word based on it's similarity to spanish (e.g. Σάββατο / Sábado) or english (έξοδος / exit).

jhbadger 7y ago

And a trapezoid is called that because it is like a table, with a flat part on top.