Etymology
The word, dial, comes from the Latin dialis = "daily", because a sundial throws a shadow related to the time of day. It was also used to describe the gear in a medieval clock which turned once per day.
The word dialling originally referred to the creation of the mathematics required to create a sundial face to tell time based on the position of the sun. Those skilled in the art were referred to as dialists or gnomonists; taken from the word gnomon (a device using a shadow as an indicator).
The mathematician William Oughtred published a book, Easy Method of Mathematical Dialling, around 1600. Samuel Walker (1716–1782) was a Yorkshire mathematician and diallist. In his later years, Thomas Jefferson was known to practice dialling as a mental exercise. Professor of astronomy at Gresham College (London, UK), Samuel Foster (d. 1652), developed reflex dialling, which describes a device of his own invention: a sundial capable of reflecting a spot of light onto the ceiling of a room.
Read more about this topic: Dialling
Famous quotes containing the word etymology:
“The universal principle of etymology in all languages: words are carried over from bodies and from the properties of bodies to express the things of the mind and spirit. The order of ideas must follow the order of things.”
—Giambattista Vico (1688–1744)
“Semantically, taste is rich and confusing, its etymology as odd and interesting as that of “style.” But while style—deriving from the stylus or pointed rod which Roman scribes used to make marks on wax tablets—suggests activity, taste is more passive.... Etymologically, the word we use derives from the Old French, meaning touch or feel, a sense that is preserved in the current Italian word for a keyboard, tastiera.”
—Stephen Bayley, British historian, art critic. “Taste: The Story of an Idea,” Taste: The Secret Meaning of Things, Random House (1991)