River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1903-08-06
Significant History of Words.

One may find much diversion
and not little profit in studying in.
to the derivation and history o.
words. Not only will he find in an
individual word an occasion for its
creation, but much of current history
and contemporary customs. In the
language of a race of men is hidden
the history of that race, its manners
and customs, the quality of its vir-
tues, its attainments in mental, NOR
al and industrial growth, its standing
among contemporaneous peoples.
While there is no voice of history
to speak in certain and unequivocal
tones of the migration Of the hosts
that in the dim past eft the table
land of Iran in Asia and settled in
Europe there are words in every
existing language by which Euro
pean nations are now divided that
determine assuredly their common
origin, their original habitat, their
customs, their religion and the de-
gree of civilization to which they
had attained.
We find something remarkably
suggestive in studying our words
expressing number-one, two, three,
four, etc.,-the characters expressing
the digits and the significance of the
zero, or cipher.
At first sight these words, and the
characters standing tor the numbers,
seem to be altogether arbitrary. We
see no reason why a certain conven-
tional character should be used to
represent certain number. Yet in
looking more closely we shall OBJ
serve very simple but philosophi-
cal method in building up these diff
ferent characters. These charac-
ters Except the cipher, which does
not represent number and was
introduced much later to determine
the position and value of significant
figures) are, or were, all straight
lines or combinations of straight
lines, and where they now differ
from straight lines such lines have
been softened by curving the salient
points of the straight line and was
not done until men had attained to a
certain degree of civilization, had
chad the rough corners knocked off,"
of themselves.
In these characters there are the
same number of lines as the number
expresses of units. There could be
nothing simpler than to represent
the number one by a simple straight
line and any additional units by an
equal number of straight lines in
juxtaposition or in combination.
The number two, in the Arabic
notation, was represented by two
horizontal lines, =; three, by three
horizontal, parallel lines, :; four
in the same way as now for there
are four lines in the figure 4; s was
made similarly, with five straight
lines, as the present curve was three
sides of a square, as may be readily
seen by continuing the two straight
lines still in the letter, one to the
right, one down, one to the left; 6
is only this s with an added line up
from where you finished the s; 7
was made by adding another line,
and s, by adding yet another line
became two squares, one over the
other (which we have changed into
curved lines without much changing
the form); 9 was made by extending.
line down from the right hand
corner. This could all be made as
"plain as A B C" if we had the
proper type forms, but with pencil
one can readily make all these fig
ures with straight lines, I with a
perpendicular line, . with two par
allel horizontal lines, 8 with three
such lines, while the rest are made
with lines at right angles to each
other, each with as many lines as
there are units in the number intend
ed to be designated. We now
make with curve, commencing
at the right of the upper line and
ending at the left of the lower, and
the three straight lines in 8 are mod
flied by connecting the lines on the
right by curves. One can, with
this observation, readily trace the
method of evolution in the making
of figures that represent numbers.
This regards the Ababic notation,
by far the more important in prac-
teal application, but we make some
use of the cumbersome r oman no