ABC Wednesday is a word meme with participants from around the world. This fabulous meme was created and hosted by Mrs. Denise Nesbitt who hails from Great Britain. Over time, others have joined in to help host this wonderful and informative meme. We are now in our TENTH round! Some of the participants have been with this from the very first round; others have joined in along the way. Each week we are taken across the globe to see the varied and exciting contributions people have taken the time to discover and capture. We start with the letter, "A" and each week we post something in regards to the next letter of the alphabet. This week's letter is, "V".
Vigesimal
Maya numerals were a vigesimal (base-twenty) numeral system used by the Pre-Columbian Maya civilization.
The numerals are made up of three symbols; zero (shell shape), one (a dot) and five (a bar). For example, nineteen (19) is written as four dots in a horizontal row above three horizontal lines stacked upon each other.
Here is the chart of Mayan numerals:
From Wikipedia:
Twenty was a base in the Maya number systems. The Maya used the following names for the powers of twenty: kal (20), bak (202 = 400), pic (203 = 8,000), calab (204 = 160,000), kinchil (205 = 3,200,000) and alau (206 = 64,000,000). See also Maya numerals and Maya calendar, Mayan languages, Yucatec. The Aztec called them: cempoalli (1 × 20), centzontli (1 × 400), cenxiquipilli (1 × 8,000), cempoalxiquipilli (1 × 20 × 8,000 = 160,000), centzonxiquipilli (1 × 400 × 8,000 = 3,200,000) and cempoaltzonxiquipilli (1 × 20 × 400 × 8,000 = 64,000,000). Note that the ce(n/m) prefix at the beginning means "one" (as in "one hundred" and "one thousand") and is replaced with the corresponding number to get the names of other multiples of the power.
Those clever Mayans....
VIGNETTE
(image by: Paula Scott)
Once again, our trusty Wikipedia describes vignette in the photographic context as: French: "vignette") is a reduction of an image's brightness or saturation at the periphery compared to the image center. As was done here in this image I took of Minne.
VELOCIPEDE
(image from Wikipedia)
Velocipede is an umbrella term for any human-powered land vehicle with one or more wheels. The most common type of velocipede today is the bicycle.
And, here is the definition of Viol.
In case you were wondering.
10 comments:
Love your set of V-words, Paula. Velocipede, eh? I need to use that word in at least three different sentences today to relearn it. :)
Wow, such interesting words for the letter V.
I was fascinated by the Mayan number system. Thank goodness for calculators.
base 20! Did not know that!
ROG, ABC Wednesday team
You're just teaching me lots o stuff; wasn't keeping track of how many weeks of your enlightenment.
I learn something today. Thanks for sharing.
Kim,USA
Lots of interesting Vs here, - the Velocipede and the Mayan number system were especially fascinating.
Your vignette photo is fun!
Eye View
Rose, ABC Wednesday Team
The velocepede term is very interesting.
Variety of Wild Birds, have a nice day.
I, too, was fascinated by the Mayan number system. And being an avid cyclist, i think I had better copy EG CameraGirl's idea and repeat Velocipede a few more times :) Great post. Thanks! But, I must have missed the definition of "viol" although, as a musician, and with friends very much involved in an early music ensemble, I'm familiar with the string instrument. Did you have another definition?
Paula, I love sites where I learn new facts. I was not familiar with the Mayan system of numerals... but what of our beloved Velociraptor? Ha ha. Guess it's called that because of its speed, right? Nicely done! Amy
http://sharplittlepencil.com/2012/06/16/vessel/
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