gmf@uvacs.UUCP (04/08/84)
In my earlier xmsn about the meaning of "Gon-Teilung" in German,
I made a couple of conjectures about the origin of the "Gon". I
suddenly realized just now that it no doubt comes from the ancient
Greek gonia (where o is omega), meaning angle (related to gonu ,
the word for knee -- where o is omicron and u is ypsilon (upsilon?)).
Of course, this word appears in goniometry, polygon and many other words.
My thanks to those who have informed me that "Gon-Teilung" refers
to English grads (german Neugrad ), which uses the subdivision
of circles into 400 parts instead of 360.
Gordon Fisher