Frank Evans wrote: > > Greetings once more, fellow dialists, > > It seems to me that in the same way as we have difficulty in naming > various forms of time (local apparent time, zonal true time, etc.) we > lack words to describe your ordinary run-of-the-mill sundial. We have > mass dials, analemmatic dials, even the Foster-Lambert dial that Fer de > Vries recently very kindly identified for me, but what is the right > generic name for modern vertical and horizontal dials that have the > gnomon parallel to the earth's axis? I use "gnomon dial" when > distinguishing modern common-or-garden dials from mass dials but this is > not exact, of course, as most dials have had gnomons since classical > times. Any suggestions? > > Regards, Frank > > -- > Frank Evans
Hello Frank, In our language we use the word "poolstijl zonnewijzer". Translated this is "polestyle sundial". In this way it is clear a polestyle is used for the dial as shadow caster. And a polestyle is parallel to the earth's axis. The word "gnomon" is restricted for a perpendicular pin of which the endpoint is used as shadow caster. Even if this pin isn't real present; then "gnomon" is the distance between the point and the dial's surface. Such a dial could be named "punt zonnewijzer". Translated : "point sundial". Happy dialling, Fer. -- Fer J. de Vries [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.iaehv.nl/users/ferdv/ lat. 51:30 N long. 5:30 E
