The Official Site of Sheda Vasseghi
This page is filled with discussions and examples of the “Star of the Magi” (8-pointed star) important to Iranian art, architecture and philosophy since antiquity as readily seen in Persian carpets in the form of a center medallion… even the lotus may be viewed in that regards… but why 8?
…one may potentially find a clue when reading 19th c. American mathematician Dr. Levi Conant’s “The Number Concept” in which he provides a fascinating trace to ancient common ancestral views:
“Two possible number systems that have, for purely theoretical reasons, attracted much attention, are the octonary and the duodecimal systems…There is no record of any tribe that ever counted by eights, nor is there the slightest likelihood that such a system could ever meet with any general favour… It is not to be supposed that this was the common system of counting, for it is well known that the decimal scale was in use as far back as the evidence of language will take us…in the history of the Aryan race the octonary was to be regarded as the predecessor of the decimal scale. In support of this theory no direct evidence is brought forward, but certain verbal resemblances…Here is one of the most attractive of them:
Between the Latin words novus, new, and novem, nine, there exists a resemblance so close that it may well be more than accidental. Nine is, then, the new number; that is, the first number on a new count, of which 8 must originally have been the base. Pursuing this thought by investigation into different languages, the same resemblance is found there. Hence the theory is strengthened by corroborative evidence. In language after language the same resemblance is found, until it seems impossible to doubt, that in prehistoric times, 9 was the new number—the beginning of a second tale. The following table will show how widely spread is this coincidence:
Sanskrit, navan = 9. nava = new.
Persian, nuh = 9. nau = new.
Greek, [Greek: ennea] = 9. [Greek: neos] = new.
Latin, novem = 9. novus = new.
German, neun = 9. neu = new.
Swedish, nio = 9. ny = new.
Dutch, negen = 9. nieuw = new.
Danish, ni = 9. ny = new.
Icelandic, nyr = 9. niu = new.
English, nine = 9. new = new.
French, neuf = 9. nouveau = new.
Spanish, nueve = 9. neuvo = new.
Italian, nove = 9. nuovo = new.
Portuguese, nove = 9. novo = new.
Irish, naoi = 9. nus = new.
Welsh, naw = 9. newydd = new.
Breton, nevez = 9. nuhue = new…
All the languages through which this verbal likeness runs are derived directly or indirectly from one common stock; and the common every-day words, ‘nine’ and ‘new,’ have been transmitted from that primitive tongue into all these linguistic offspring with but little change. Not only are the two words in question akin in each individual language, but they are akin in all the languages…If there were any further evidence of the former existence of an Aryan octonary scale, the coincidence would possess a certain degree of significance; but not a shred has ever been produced which is worthy of consideration. If our remote ancestors ever counted by eights, we are entirely ignorant of the fact, and must remain so until much more is known of their language than scholars now have at their command…”
[pic rugmates: A Persian wool & silk carpet from Isfahan, Iran… for educational purposes only]
This page is filled with discussions and examples of the “Star of the Magi” (8-pointed star) important to Iranian art, architecture and philosophy since antiquity as readily seen in Persian carpets in the form of a center medallion… even the lotus may be viewed in that regards… but why 8?
…one may potentially find a clue when reading 19th c. American mathematician Dr. Levi Conant’s “The Number Concept” in which he provides a fascinating trace to ancient common ancestral views:
“Two possible number systems that have, for purely theoretical reasons, attracted much attention, are the octonary and the duodecimal systems…There is no record of any tribe that ever counted by eights, nor is there the slightest likelihood that such a system could ever meet with any general favour… It is not to be supposed that this was the common system of counting, for it is well known that the decimal scale was in use as far back as the evidence of language will take us…in the history of the Aryan race the octonary was to be regarded as the predecessor of the decimal scale. In support of this theory no direct evidence is brought forward, but certain verbal resemblances…Here is one of the most attractive of them:
Between the Latin words novus, new, and novem, nine, there exists a resemblance so close that it may well be more than accidental. Nine is, then, the new number; that is, the first number on a new count, of which 8 must originally have been the base. Pursuing this thought by investigation into different languages, the same resemblance is found there. Hence the theory is strengthened by corroborative evidence. In language after language the same resemblance is found, until it seems impossible to doubt, that in prehistoric times, 9 was the new number—the beginning of a second tale. The following table will show how widely spread is this coincidence:
Sanskrit, navan = 9. nava = new.
Persian, nuh = 9. nau = new.
Greek, [Greek: ennea] = 9. [Greek: neos] = new.
Latin, novem = 9. novus = new.
German, neun = 9. neu = new.
Swedish, nio = 9. ny = new.
Dutch, negen = 9. nieuw = new.
Danish, ni = 9. ny = new.
Icelandic, nyr = 9. niu = new.
English, nine = 9. new = new.
French, neuf = 9. nouveau = new.
Spanish, nueve = 9. neuvo = new.
Italian, nove = 9. nuovo = new.
Portuguese, nove = 9. novo = new.
Irish, naoi = 9. nus = new.
Welsh, naw = 9. newydd = new.
Breton, nevez = 9. nuhue = new…
All the languages through which this verbal likeness runs are derived directly or indirectly from one common stock; and the common every-day words, ‘nine’ and ‘new,’ have been transmitted from that primitive tongue into all these linguistic offspring with but little change. Not only are the two words in question akin in each individual language, but they are akin in all the languages…If there were any further evidence of the former existence of an Aryan octonary scale, the coincidence would possess a certain degree of significance; but not a shred has ever been produced which is worthy of consideration. If our remote ancestors ever counted by eights, we are entirely ignorant of the fact, and must remain so until much more is known of their language than scholars now have at their command…”
[pic rugmates: A Persian wool & silk carpet from Isfahan, Iran… for educational purposes only]
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