Why are they called "seconds". Days, hours, minutes.....seconds.?

Question

Second to what?

Ok....I completely understand years, months, days. My question is....why the word "seconds". When you've finished a meal and you want more, you ask for seconds. That makes sense because you had a "first" serving, now you will have your "second".

In speaking about time...why the word "second".

Wow. I must be saying this wrong.

Why are seconds called seconds?

Why the word SECONDS?

Not what is time.

Answer 1

"The word "minute" has its origins in the Latin prima minuta, the first small division; "second" comes from secunda minuta, the second small division."

Answer 2

It is the system of hours, minutes, seconds. First, because it was an english system and at the time when they internationalized "time" the english way was standardized. Secondly if you look closely, 60 minutes = 1 hr. 60 seconds = 1 min. there is a correlation with this break down of time and the break down in angular divisions. 60 minutes = 1 degree, 60 seconds = 1 minute. Which is very convenient because mechanical clocks work (you guessed it) via angular displacement meaning that the angle of any of the arms have direct time definitions. And finally, we know the world in base 10 logic, meaning that we count things easiest by 10 digits which are from 0-9. Hardware talks in binary or base two 0-1 and more sophisticated hardware, for example a computer, talks in hexadecimal which goes from 0-9 AND a-f. However, mintues, and seconds are base 60, we do not ever think of it this way because someone would need to come up with 60 different characters to represent all the digits in a base 60 world.

Answer 3

I kind of get what you are trying to say. I think you meant why is 1 second called second. Second usually refers to the number 2 and not 1. I think you are saying that 1 second should have a different name. With all that said, I'll try to give an explanation.

When dealing with time the word "second" is like any other word. It is not a position (first place, second place, etc) or how many times something is done (once, twice, etc). With time second is like the word apple or computer. For example, you may say, "I have one apple." or "I have two apples." Well, with time it is similar. You may say, "I have one second to press the button." or "I have two seconds to press the button."

Hope that helps.

Answer 4

Because people can ask for seconds in their plates in just a second.

Answer 5

the sequence in short goes years, months, weeks, days, hours, minutes, seconds, it is just a small part of time that is all i know

Answer 6

because it starts with a s. If it start with another letter it would be a different word

Answer 7

That's like asking why is God called "God"