2254: Time & Space in Preposition Feb 16, 2021

There is a strong correlation between a forward direction physically as well as in time; the reverse is true with a backwards direction and the past. There are some exceptions as with in Aymara, but otherwise this is a (near-)universal rule. In Indo-European languages, this manifests not only in prepositions and adverbs (e.g. 'ahead'; 'forward'; 'backward'; toward; behind), but in prefixes. Many are indeed related to those examples before such as in 'fore-' from Old English and ultimately related to 'fare' from 'faran' (to go), along with other prepositions now like the Latin and Greek 'pro-', found in English. 'Before' is also related, and can relate to both time and space. More on this at a later point.

2203: French Revolutionary Calendar: Months Dec 26, 2020

The French Revolution saw a lot of societal change, including an attempted change of the calendar. Everything was decimalized from the number of days of the week to hours in a day etc. but there were still twelve months. These months fell out on different days but roughly followed the seasons. The names are:

In Autumn: Vendémiaire, Brumaire, and Frimaire

In Winter: Nivôse, Pluviôse, and Ventôse

In Spring: Germinal, Floréal, and Prairial

In Summer: Messidor, Thermidor (or Fervidor*), Fructidor

These were all invented words meant to convey a meaning about the time. In order it would be:

vintage, mist, and frost; snow, rain, and wind; germination flowers and meadow; and harvest, summer-heat, and fruit, which would for the most part be recognizable for French speakers. This system had with it associated with produce, animals, minerals (for the winter) in order to counter the Catholic Church who had associated a saint with each day of the year. Likewise, the years and weeks ('décades') had similar systems of associated things meant to celebrate France and French culture.

2088: week Sep 2, 2020

Time has many subdivisions, but the more natural ones are related to seasons and the cosmos. 'Month' comes from the same root as 'moon' for instance, but there is a similar situation with 'week'. It comes from the Proto-Germanic root *wikǭ meaning 'change', or alternatively 'bend', as in the cycles of the moon; a week is roughly 1 quarter of a full lunar cycle, but the specific 7-day period was only adopted with the spread of Christianity anyway. This makes the word 'week' also related to 'vicar' and the prefix 'vice-', through the sense of 'alternate'.

Watch a video about the significance of 7 (day week) here.