– 1625
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nOnnthis date in 1625, the word “microscope” was first suggested forna new invention (the compound microscope), which of course is an instrument that helps people see very, very small things.nThe word suggestion appeared in a letter written by Johannes Faber ofnBamberg, Germany, to Federigo Cesi, Duke of Aquasparata in Italy.
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nDoesna question occur to you as you read the above paragraph?
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nDonyou wonder if this German fellow, writing to an Italian associate,nactually suggested an ENGLISH word, microscope? Wouldn’t he,nperhaps, use the German word (mikroskop) or the Italian wordn(microscopio)?
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nTwonthoughts here:
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nWhenn we report a new invention, a new idea, a new country name, even an new scientific term, we are actually reporting the English versionn or translation of that new thing. Presumably an article in Finnishn about the new term would use “mikroskooppi”; inn Vietnamese, “kinh hien vi”; and in Swahili “darubini.”
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nPerhapsn the German scientist and the Italian scientist had a common languagen in French. For many decades, French was considered the language thatn educated people in Europe and North America had to know—then language of arts, literature, diplomacy, and even science. Whenn there is one common language that people in many different nationsn and of many different language traditions use to communicate, thatn language is called the lingua franca. (Even the term linguan franca is French!) Nowadays, in many places and fields, then lingua franca is English, but this letter was written a loooooongn time ago. So it may well have been written in French.
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n Andnthe French word for “microscope” is “microscope”!
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n(ThenFrench spelling is the same as the English spelling, but thenpronunciation is different.)
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Innhonor of this historical anniversary, dust off your microscope andnuse it to inspect a human hair, water from a pond or stream, a bladenof grass, or whatever else you can think of. If you don’t own anmicroscope, perhaps you would like to check out this “virtual microscope” or this “virtual electron microscope.”
Innhonor of this historical anniversary, dust off your microscope andnuse it to inspect a human hair, water from a pond or stream, a bladenof grass, or whatever else you can think of. If you don’t own anmicroscope, perhaps you would like to check out this “virtual microscope” or this “virtual electron microscope.”n
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nAlsonon this date:
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National Scrabble Day
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National Scrabble Day n
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nNational Cherry Blossom Parade and Festival
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nNational Cherry Blossom Parade and Festival
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nApollon13 Day
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nApollon13 Day