rectangle vs. square

[Robin Hamilton]

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> header -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Mark Mandel <thnidu at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      Re: rectangle vs. square
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------

> And then there's the other side of it. Looking at it from another angle:
>
> rhombus (from M-W Online)
> Date: circa 1567*
> :* a parallelogram with four equal sides and sometimes one with no right
> angles
>
> rhomboid (ibid.)
> Date: 1570*
> :* a parallelogram with no right angles and with adjacent sides of unequal
> length
>
> m a m
>
> PS: They spell it "Wiktionary", with a "k"

Oops -- my bad!

Interestingly, the earliest OED cite for "rectangle", defined as:  "1. A
plane figure with four straight sides and four right angles, opposite sides
being parallel and equal in length ...." specifically *excludes a square:

?a1560 L. DIGGES Geom. Pract.: Pantometria (1571) I. Defs. sig. Biijv, If
one side containing the right Angle, be longer than the other containing
side, then is that figure called a Rectangle.

Be interesting to check Digges' quotation in context, and see what he's
contrasting a rectangle to.  It raises the question of when a rectangle
first came to be thought of as including a square (even if it no longer does
sometimes and somewheres).

Robin

> On Sat, Jun 26, 2010 at 8:49 PM, Robin Hamilton <
> robin.hamilton3 at virginmedia.com> wrote:
>
>> > ---------------------- Information from the mail
>> > header -----------------------
>> > Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>> > Poster:       Dan Goncharoff <thegonch at GMAIL.COM>
>> > Subject:      Re: rectangle vs. square
>> >
>> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>> >
>> > First, when did "rectangle" ever include "oblong"?
>>
>> Wictionary:  OBLONG:  2.  A rectangle having length greater than width.
>>
>> Thus, the set of Rectangles is (fully) comprised of two exclusive
>> subsets:
>> Squares [rectangles with four equal sides] and Oblongs [rectangles with
>> sides of two equal lengths -- i.e. all members of the set 'Rectangle'
>> which
>> aren't members of the subset, 'Square'].
>>
>> > Second, what would be the justification for using "ellipse" when
>> > describing
>> > a circle, or rectangle for square? It may be correct, but it's not
>> > informative.
>>
>> It makes perfect sense if you think in Venn diagrams.  <g>
>>
>>
>>
>
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