Lectionary Calendar
Sunday, December 22nd, 2024
the Fourth Week of Advent
Attention!
For 10¢ a day you can enjoy StudyLight.org ads
free while helping to build churches and support pastors in Uganda.
Click here to learn more!

Bible Encyclopedias
Minute

1911 Encyclopedia Britannica

Search for…
or
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W Y Z
Prev Entry
Minusinsk
Next Entry
Minute Men
Resource Toolbox
Additional Links

(Lat. minutes, small; minuere, to make less), an adjective meaning of very small size, petty or trifling; also extremely precise. In this sense the word is pronounced mi-nute. As a substantive and pronounced minnit the word (usually in the plural) is applied to a written summary of the transactions of a meeting of a public or other body, or to a memorandum of instructions, &c. A Treasury minute in the United Kingdom is an official memorandum authorizing certain procedure. "To minute" is to draw up such a summary or memorandum. More particularly, "minute" is used of the sixtieth part of any unit); in time, of an hour; and in astronomy, geometry, geography, &c., of a degree in the measurement of a circle. The sexagesimal system of division was originally used by the ancient Babylonian astronomers, was adopted by Ptolemy; and the sixtieth part of a degree, and its further subdivision into sixty parts, was called in Latin pars minutae prim'ae, and pars minutae secundae respectively, hence the English "minute" and "second."

Bibliography Information
Chisholm, Hugh, General Editor. Entry for 'Minute'. 1911 Encyclopedia Britanica. https://www.studylight.org/​encyclopedias/​eng/​bri/​m/minute.html. 1910.
 
adsfree-icon
Ads FreeProfile