etymology - "Second," "Minute," and "Hour"



Would anyone happen to know where the terms for the units of time came from, and why? I know "minute," which also means something extremely small, comes from the latin meaning "small," but then why is it not the smallest unit of time?


Also, is there any relation between the time unit "second" and the ordinal number "second"?




Comments

Popular posts from this blog

etymology - Origin of "s--t eating grin"

etymology - Since when has "a hot minute" meant a long time?

etymology - Why "silver-tongued" for someone who is convincing?

usage - "there doesn't seem" vs. "there don't seem"

etymology - Origin of "queer as a clockwork orange"

First floor vs ground floor, usage origin

meaning - What is meant by "don't piss on my boots and tell me it's raining"?