…well, no planes are really involved here 😉 I visited Long Meg and Her Daughters this morning as the morning mist was looking interesting, as I wandered around with the camera I started to wonder what the definition of a circle is. We all know what a circle is, but I couldn’t remember the etymology of the word.
The dictionary says a circle is
A round plane figure whose boundary (the circumference) consists of points equidistant from a fixed point (the centre)
which sounds about right 😉 and the etymology (via etymonline.com) is
c.1300, “figure of a circle,” from Old French cercle “circle, ring (for the finger); hoop of a helmet or barrel” (12c.), from Latin circulus “circular figure; small ring, hoop; circular orbit” (also source of Italian cerchio), diminutive of circus “ring” (see circus).
Replaced Old English trendel and hring. Late Old English used circul, from Latin, but only in an astronomical sense. Meaning “group of persons surrounding a center of interest” is from 1714 (it also was a secondary sense of Latin circulus); that of “coterie” is from 1640s (a sense also found in Latin circulus). To come full circle is in Shakespeare.
So here’s some photographs from Long Meg Hring….
Limited edition prints will be available upon request.
