Primitive Time-reckoning: A study in the origins and first development of the art of counting time among the primitive and early culture peoplesNilsson, Martin P. (Martin Persson)
History
Primitive Time-reckoning: A study in the origins and first development of the art of counting time among the primitive and early culture peoples
Nilsson, Martin P. (Martin Persson)
Chronology
The gestures may be accompanied by descriptive expressions, as among
the negroes, or replaced by them, which seems to be the rule among
other peoples. The latter practice offers the further advantage of
being available in the night-time, when it is necessary to mention
a point of time after dark. The Kayans denote the time of day by
pointing to the position of the sun, but for morning and evening
they also use the expressions ‘when the sun has risen’ or ‘set’[69].
Expressions for the most important divisions, sunrise and sunset (=
morning and evening) and noon, are found among all peoples. Even the
tribes of Central and Northern Australia have words e. g. for evening
and for morning before sunrise[70]. The richness of the terminology
however varies exceedingly. The Indians divide the day into three
or four rough divisions only. The Seminole of Florida divided up
the day by terms descriptive of the positions of the sun in the sky
from dawn to sunset[71]: unfortunately we are not told what these
words were or how many of them existed. Among the Hopi of Arizona
there is every evidence that the time of day was early indicated by
the altitude of the sun[72]. The Omahas know no smaller divisions
of the day than morning, noon, and afternoon, to which certainly
must be added the transitional periods of sunrise and sunset[73].
The Occaneechi of Virginia measure the day by sunrise, noon, and
sunset[74]. The Algonquins of the same province mention the three
times of the rise, power, and lowering of the sun[75]. Many tribes
however had four divisions[76], e. g. the Natchez of Louisiana, who
divided the day into four equal parts: half the morning, until noon,
half the afternoon, until evening[77]. But there is also a richer
terminology, e. g. the Kiowa words for dawn (‘first-light’), sunrise
(lit. ‘the-sun-has-come-up’), morning (lit. ‘full-day’), noon,
earlier afternoon until about 3 o’clock, late afternoon, evening
(lit. ‘first-darkness’)[78]; and in particular among the Statlumh
of British Columbia: dawn (‘it-just-comes-day’), early morning
(‘just-now-morning’), morning light (‘just-see-things’), full light
(‘just-now-day’), sunrise (‘outside-sun’), early morning (midway
between sunrise and noon), noon (up till about 2 p. m.), middle of
the afternoon, about 4 p. m., ‘three-fourths-of-the-day-have-gone’,
‘sun-sitting-down’, ‘the-sun-gone’,’evening-creeping-up-the-mountain’
(this refers to the line of shadow on the eastern mountains),
‘reached-the-top’, i. e. the line of the shadows, twilight,
‘getting-dark’, night, darkness, pitch dark[79].
Of the Indians of S. America little is reported.
‘The-sun-is-perpendicular’ was the expression for noon on the
Orinoco[80]. The Indians of Chile had words for morning twilight,
dawn, morning, noon, afternoon, evening, evening twilight, night, and
midnight[81].
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