Re: [HM] Whither the Parallelepipedon
John Conway (conway@math.Princeton.edu)
Tue, 15 Jun 1999 10:43:59 -0400 (EDT)
On Tue, 15 Jun 1999, Ken Pledger wrote:
>
> I point out to students that the word has the familiar prefix
> "epi-" in the middle, to help them with the pronunciation and spelling. It
> occurs in a course on geometrical vectors, first in expressing a vector as
> a linear combination of vectors in three chosen directions (not necessarily
> perpendicular), and later in showing that its volume is a scalar triple
> product.
I completely dissect the word when explaining it to any one:
par by
allel other
epi upon
pedon ground
The bits are remarkably cognate.
allel (Grk) aliter (Lat) alter,other (Eng)
are all from the same Indo-European root, as are ped (Grk) and foot (Eng).
I say that "pedon", meaning ground, is what you put your foot on.
JHC