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