Anthology of Ideas

Before Western society was introduced to the “Arabic” — technically, the number system originated in India — numeral system, it used the Roman system which uses six symbols to represent a base 10 numeric system (repeats every 10 digits) I,V,X,L,C, and M which referred to the numbers 1,5,10,50,100,and 1000 respectively, and the placement of the symbols determined their value. If a symbol with a smaller value came before a larger, it was subtracted from the larger; if it cam after it was added, so IV meant 4 while VI meant 6.

I think this selection of words shows evidences the many ways words enter into the English vocabulary. Itinerary: Itinerary began as the word itinerarium from Latin which means “account of a journey”. Mouse: Mouse began as the Greek word m?s it the evolved over time to be (in chronological order) m?s in Latin, maus in German, m?s in Old English, then finally as mous in Middle English. This word is interesting for two reasons the first is that it has a rather long etymology and the second is that English first borrowed the word directly from Latin and then later borrowed it in a different form from the Germans.

Before Western society was introduced to the “Arabic” — technically, the number system originated in India — numeral system, it used the Roman system which uses six symbols to represent a base 10 numeric system (repeats every 10 digits) I,V,X,L,C, and M which referred to the numbers 1,5,10,50,100,and 1000 respectively, and the placement of the symbols determined their value. If a symbol with a smaller value came before a larger, it was subtracted from the larger; if it cam after it was added, so IV meant 4 while VI meant 6.

I think this selection of words shows evidences the many ways words enter into the English vocabulary. Itinerary: Itinerary began as the word itinerarium from Latin which means “account of a journey”. Mouse: Mouse began as the Greek word m?s it the evolved over time to be (in chronological order) m?s in Latin, maus in German, m?s in Old English, then finally as mous in Middle English. This word is interesting for two reasons the first is that it has a rather long etymology and the second is that English first borrowed the word directly from Latin and then later borrowed it in a different form from the Germans.