4 ms·
Great anecdote! I'm in the process of learning my 4 year old nephew what a day, a month and a year are. And then I also tell him that a week is just something
by rambambram 4y ago
Great anecdote!
I'm in the process of learning my 4 year old nephew what a day, a month and a year are. And then I also tell him that a week is just something that people invented for convenience.
- dragonwriter 4y agoWeeks are equally arbitrary to months (and retain a closer tie to the cycle motivating both.)
- rambambram 4y agoCan you expand on that? Not for my nephew, but for me. ;)
- dragonwriter 4y agoBoth month (full cycle) and weeks (quarter cycle) are related to the lunar cycle (“month” is also closely etymologically related to “moon”). But months in the Roman calendar (impacting derivatives of that calendar) got lengthened a bit to fit an arbitrary preference for ratio to the solar cycle with days further moved between them for a variety of reasons, while weeks stayed the same.
- rambambram 4y agoThanks. My main point still holds true, I think. Days, months and years are based on celestial bodies. Weeks are derived from that. Correct me if I'm wrong!
- HWR_14 4y ago> Weeks are equally arbitrary to months In the dominant Gregorian calendar and its predecessors. There are others where this is not true. [1][2] [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lunar_calendar#List_of_lunar_calendars https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lunar_calendar#List_of_lunar_c... [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lunisolar_calendar#List_of_lunisolar_calendars https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lunisolar_calendar#List_of_lun...