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I have heard it said that the word "technology" shares its roots with the word "textiles". Maybe it's not so surprising that there would be a shared interest as

I have heard it said that the word "technology" shares its roots with the word "textiles". Maybe it's not so surprising that there would be a shared interest as well!

shagie 6mo ago
https://www.etymonline.com/word/*teks- https://www.etymonline.com/word/*teks- > Proto-Indo-European root meaning "to weave," also "to fabricate," especially with an ax, also "to make wicker or wattle fabric for (mud-covered) house walls." > It might form all or part of: architect; context; dachshund; polytechnic; pretext; subtle; technical; techno-; technology; tectonic; tete; text; textile; tiller (n.1) "bar to turn the rudder of a boat;" tissue; toil (n.2) "net, snare." > It might also be the source of: Sanskrit taksati "he fashions, constructs," taksan "carpenter;" Avestan taša "ax, hatchet," thwaxš- "be busy;" Old Persian taxš- "be active;" Latin texere "to weave, fabricate," tela "web, net, warp of a fabric;" Greek tekton "carpenter," tekhnē "art;" Old Church Slavonic tesla "ax, hatchet;" ...
- echelon_musk 6mo ago
  According to William Dalrymple, India was once responsible for a third of the world's GDP, with the most advanced textile industry in the world before the East India Company dismantled it. A Sanskrit origin is intriguing.
  - shagie 6mo ago
    As a note, Sanskrit is a "sibling" or cousin of Latin or Greek in the family tree of languages ( https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4f/IndoEuropeanTree.svg https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4f/IndoEuro... ). Neither Latin nor Greek grew from Sanskrit but rather each (and many other languages) grew from Proto-Indo-European that was believed to exist somewhere in 4500 to 2500 BC. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indo-European_vocabulary https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indo-European_vocabulary (the "Construction, fabrication" section includes *teks)
    - srean 6mo ago
      As a novice in the history of languages and being k-lingual in a couple of Indian languages and English, the Farsi language is such a delightful stream of discoveries. Regardless of which k of my languages I restrict myself to, I end up discovering words that are same between Farsi and that language. I understand that this should not be surprising given their roots in Indo-Iranian languages, the largest branches of Indo-European. Nonetheless it is delightful everytime I discover a new one by accident.
- euroderf 6mo ago
  Hmm, Finnish has "tehdä" (to do,make,fabricate) with forms like "tekee" and "teko-".
  - Schmerika 6mo ago
    Huh; that seems like a way better etymology for the "tada!" flourish than any of the explanations in this rather heated discussion: https://english.stackexchange.com/questions/33564/origin-of-tada https://english.stackexchange.com/questions/33564/origin-of-...
segmondy 6mo ago
where did you think punch cards came from? you know, the punch cards that we use to represent the first computer programs? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Punched_card https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Punched_card. read the precursor section. Basile Bouchon developed the control of a loom by punched holes in paper tape in 1725. The design was improved by his assistant Jean-Baptiste Falcon and by Jacques Vaucanson.[5] Although these improvements controlled the patterns woven, they still required an assistant to operate the mechanism. In 1804 Joseph Marie Jacquard demonstrated a mechanism to automate loom operation. A number of punched cards were linked into a chain of any length. Each card held the instructions for shedding (raising and lowering the warp) and selecting the shuttle for a single pass.[6]
- mitthrowaway2 6mo ago
  Since you asked: That's exactly where I thought punch cards come from.
- srean 6mo ago
  Indeed. To help debug the occasional 'dropped all the cards on the floor' accident, was the diagonal stripe across the side, after the cards have been stacked right. This was used for computers for sure, not sure about the Jacquard looms. With complete freedom in addressing (raising) any subset of the warps, these looms were very expressive. My favorite are multi shaft looms. In a k-shaft loom you can only define k elementary subsets of all the warps. Makes for more interesting problem solving instances and mathematical structure.
ST33LDI9ITAL 6mo ago
knitting machines were definitely the or one of the first most complex machinery human kind developed.

I have heard it said that the word "technology" shares its roots with the word "textiles". Maybe it's not so surprising that there would be a shared interest as well!

shagie 6mo ago

https://www.etymonline.com/word/*teks- https://www.etymonline.com/word/*teks- > Proto-Indo-European root meaning "to weave," also "to fabricate," especially with an ax, also "to make wicker or wattle fabric for (mud-covered) house walls." > It might form all or part of: architect; context; dachshund; polytechnic; pretext; subtle; technical; techno-; technology; tectonic; tete; text; textile; tiller (n.1) "bar to turn the rudder of a boat;" tissue; toil (n.2) "net, snare." > It might also be the source of: Sanskrit taksati "he fashions, constructs," taksan "carpenter;" Avestan taša "ax, hatchet," thwaxš- "be busy;" Old Persian taxš- "be active;" Latin texere "to weave, fabricate," tela "web, net, warp of a fabric;" Greek tekton "carpenter," tekhnē "art;" Old Church Slavonic tesla "ax, hatchet;" ...

echelon_musk 6mo ago
According to William Dalrymple, India was once responsible for a third of the world's GDP, with the most advanced textile industry in the world before the East India Company dismantled it. A Sanskrit origin is intriguing.
- shagie 6mo ago
  As a note, Sanskrit is a "sibling" or cousin of Latin or Greek in the family tree of languages ( https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4f/IndoEuropeanTree.svg https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4f/IndoEuro... ). Neither Latin nor Greek grew from Sanskrit but rather each (and many other languages) grew from Proto-Indo-European that was believed to exist somewhere in 4500 to 2500 BC. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indo-European_vocabulary https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indo-European_vocabulary (the "Construction, fabrication" section includes *teks)
  - srean 6mo ago
    As a novice in the history of languages and being k-lingual in a couple of Indian languages and English, the Farsi language is such a delightful stream of discoveries. Regardless of which k of my languages I restrict myself to, I end up discovering words that are same between Farsi and that language. I understand that this should not be surprising given their roots in Indo-Iranian languages, the largest branches of Indo-European. Nonetheless it is delightful everytime I discover a new one by accident.
euroderf 6mo ago
Hmm, Finnish has "tehdä" (to do,make,fabricate) with forms like "tekee" and "teko-".
- Schmerika 6mo ago
  Huh; that seems like a way better etymology for the "tada!" flourish than any of the explanations in this rather heated discussion: https://english.stackexchange.com/questions/33564/origin-of-tada https://english.stackexchange.com/questions/33564/origin-of-...

segmondy 6mo ago

where did you think punch cards came from? you know, the punch cards that we use to represent the first computer programs? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Punched_card https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Punched_card. read the precursor section. Basile Bouchon developed the control of a loom by punched holes in paper tape in 1725. The design was improved by his assistant Jean-Baptiste Falcon and by Jacques Vaucanson.[5] Although these improvements controlled the patterns woven, they still required an assistant to operate the mechanism. In 1804 Joseph Marie Jacquard demonstrated a mechanism to automate loom operation. A number of punched cards were linked into a chain of any length. Each card held the instructions for shedding (raising and lowering the warp) and selecting the shuttle for a single pass.[6]

mitthrowaway2 6mo ago
Since you asked: That's exactly where I thought punch cards come from.
srean 6mo ago
Indeed. To help debug the occasional 'dropped all the cards on the floor' accident, was the diagonal stripe across the side, after the cards have been stacked right. This was used for computers for sure, not sure about the Jacquard looms. With complete freedom in addressing (raising) any subset of the warps, these looms were very expressive. My favorite are multi shaft looms. In a k-shaft loom you can only define k elementary subsets of all the warps. Makes for more interesting problem solving instances and mathematical structure.

ST33LDI9ITAL 6mo ago

knitting machines were definitely the or one of the first most complex machinery human kind developed.