Widdershins needs to make a comeback. It’s a cool word
Comment on How did people refer to clockwise movement before the invention of the clock?
Spuddaccino@reddthat.com 10 months ago
“Sunwise”, and for the exact same reason.
Clocks go clockwise because their predecessors did. What were their predecessors?
Sundials.
How does the shadow go around a sundial? Well, sunwise, of course.
Counterclockwise, as said in another comment, was “widdershins”, from a Middle Low German phrase meaning “against the way”.
db0@lemmy.dbzer0.com 10 months ago
meyotch@slrpnk.net 10 months ago
It seems like something a pirate would say. Widder me shins, but that’s a cold wind blowin’!
bionicjoey@lemmy.ca 10 months ago
Also turnwise. Also we need to switch from a globe to a disk on the backs of four cosmic elephants, who are themselves on the back of a giant turtle
dirkgentle@lemmy.ca 10 months ago
I am trying to picture it, but I think the sunwise convention only works in the Northern hemisphere.
Auk@kbin.social 10 months ago
Yep - in the northern hemisphere a sundial shadow will move from west to east in a clockwise fashion; in the southern hemisphere it still goes west to east but does so moving anticlockwise.
XeroxCool@lemmy.world 10 months ago
And if I’m thinking about this correctly, people between ~20N and ~20S latitudes will have it reverse throughout the year and and sometimes be a straight line.
Wait, it’s all anglo-centric?
Synthead@lemmy.world 10 months ago
Yes but, how did people know that time went sunwise before the sun?
sawdustprophet@midwest.social 10 months ago
Yes but, how did people know that time went sunwise before the sun?
Back before the solar system was fully formed, it was called “gaswise”.
DarthBueller@lemmy.world 10 months ago
Hi Dad! It’s me, Dad.
southbayrideshare@lemmy.world 10 months ago
I somehow read this comment in the voice of the cleric performing the “mawwiage” ceremony in Princess Bride.
Cleric: “Sunwise…” long, uncomfortable pause. “And for the exact same weason.” Pause. “Clocks go clockwise because their pwedecessors did… and what were their pwedecessors?”
Humperdink: “Look, can we hurry this up?”
Cleric: “Sundials.”
Humperdink: “Just skip to the end!”
Cleric: “Countewclockwise… as said in another comment… would be… widdershins.”
clockwork_octopus@lemmy.world 10 months ago
Haha, thank you for this!
kozel@lemmy.world 10 months ago
I’ve just find (in wiktionary) the word “moonwise”, meaning antisunwise/counterclockwise. But the moon moves the same way as the sun does. So is there some deeper meaning based off of some long-term patterns in lunar movement, or is it just simple antagonism sun×moon?
Spuddaccino@reddthat.com 10 months ago
That’s what it appears to be. This is supported somewhat by the term “moonwise” not having a lot of historical usage, leading me to believe that it came along much later by someone who wanted a related antonym.
The only bit about the moon that seems to travel right to left are it’s phase changes, and even that is because we’re outside the rotation and watching along it’s horizontal plane. You’ll see the same thing with anything spinning clockwise in front of you: the closer edge goes right to left, the farther edge goes left to right.
Ultraviolet@lemmy.world 10 months ago
Sundials are also responsible for why we say “o’clock”. It’s a differentiatior. Because the speed of a sundial would vary based on the time of year while a clock was constant, you had to clarify what kind of time you were talking about. Did you mean 10 of the clock or 10 of the sun? Somehow, that stuck around long after sundials fell out of common use.
NotYourSocialWorker@feddit.nu 10 months ago
I find it interesting that in Swedish the opposite of sunwise is “motsols”, i.e. counter sunwise or literally “against the sun”. Sunwise is called “medsols”, lit. “with the sun”.
jbrains@sh.itjust.works 10 months ago
IJLM.