Re:Microsoft to acquire LinkedIn for $26B
by sonthonax on Monday June 13, 2016 @10:55AM
(#11894335)
What's the etymology of that?
[ Parent
| on HN ]
Re:Microsoft to acquire LinkedIn for $26B
by heneryville on Monday June 13, 2016 @11:26AM
(#11894622)
It comes from the Latin saeculum which is a period of time longer than a person's life. Rome used to hold the secular games, which was an event so big, it'd never be seen again in a person's lifetime.
Re:Microsoft to acquire LinkedIn for $26B
by PlaneSploit on Monday June 13, 2016 @10:59AM
(#11894370)
1250-1300; < Medieval Latin sēculāris, Late Latin saeculāris worldly, temporal (opposed to eternal), Latin: of an age, equivalent to Latin saecul (um) long period of time + -āris -ar1; replacing Middle English seculer < Old French < Latin, as above
In fact: century in Italian is "secolo"... :)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saeculum
A saeculum is a length of time roughly equal to the potential lifetime of a person or the equivalent of the complete renewal of a human population. The word has evolved within Romance languages (and Swedish) to mean "century".
Re:Microsoft to acquire LinkedIn for $26B
by ClashTheBunny on Monday June 13, 2016 @12:07PM
(#11894977)
> The word has evolved within Romance languages (and Swedish) to mean "century".
Doesn't that come from centum (100) like cent and centurion?
Re:Microsoft to acquire LinkedIn for $26B
by saint_fiasco on Monday June 13, 2016 @12:33PM
(#11895196)
That's for Germanic languages. In Romance languages the words for century look like "seculo", "siglo", &c.
What they meant is that in Romance languages century is a cognate of secular: secolo in Italian, siècle in French, siglo in Spanish…