>Dimension appears to be an abstraction in search of an application,
>and Einstein seems to equate it with both position and time. Is
>there an ancient Greek word for our modern concept of "dimension?"
>
You will find a great deal on dimension in the PhD
thesis of Dale Johnson appearing in the
Archive for the History of the Exact Sciences in
three parts:
volume 17(1977), 261--295,
volume 20(1979), 97--188,
volume 25(1981), 85--267.
The first article may be most interesting to you.
I also see a discussion of dimension in the American
Mathematical Monthly's Evolution of ... column.
volume 104(1997), 860--869,
volume 105(1998), 456--463.
The articles are by Pogoda and Sokolowski.
I believe these are accounts of more modern
versions of the idea of dimension. But it's
a start...
John