(no subject)

[lethargic_man]

Trivium the first:

The pips have been broadcast since February 5, 1924, and were the idea of the Astronomer Royal Sir Frank Watson Dyson and head of the BBC John Reith. The pips were originally controlled by two mechanical clocks located in the Royal Greenwich Observatory that had electrical contacts attached to the pendulums. Two clocks were used in case of a breakdown. These sent a signal each second to the BBC, who converted them to the audible oscillatory signal that is broadcast.

How cool is that? Electrical time signals generated from a mechanical pendulum!

Trivium the second:

*boggle*

(It's outside Seven Sisters Tube station, if you were wondering.)

Comments

[songster.livejournal.com]

I have no idea what's bogglesome about that photo - am I lacking the requisite cultural context?

[lethargic-man.livejournal.com]

It's a name of God (normally translated God Almighty) in the Book of Genesis.

[taimatsu]

Are you aware of the Christian hymn beginning 'El-Shaddai, El-Shaddai, El El-yon na Adonai'? (I can't remember how 'Mission Praise' punctuated it, so I apologise if I've got it horribly wrong.)

[lethargic-man.livejournal.com]

Nope.

ObLinguisticsGeekery: El means "god"; it's also the name of the chief Canaanite god, and is used in the Old Testament, mostly in Genesis, to mean the Hebrew God. It's a shorter form of eloah, which you don't see much in the singular, but do as the plural form Elohim, meaning God. (This name of God looks plural but takes a singular verb.) It's cognate to the Arabic illāh; "Allah", an elision of *al-illāh, means "The G-d". It's also cognate to Akkadian ilû as in Babilu or Babillim (Gate of the God(s)); in Greek Babylon; in Hebrew Bavel, whence Greek Babel.

El `elyon means G-d Most High.

Adonai, meaning "My Lord" (another word plural in form but taking a singular verb) is the pronunciation used in Jewish prayer to render the Tetragrammaton (YHVH). (When not in prayer, even this name is considered too holy for everyday usage, so "Hashem", "The Name", is substituted by devout Jews.)

Na means "please". I'm not sure what it's doing there. (Later on in the link you sent we get Erkamka. I've got no idea what that is; it does not look like a Hebrew word. It might just possibly be a mangling of eyn kamokha "There is none like You" (a phrase from Jewish prayer).

[taimatsu]

Mmm, I always thought the Hebrew usage in that hymn was more than a little odd, simply in terms of cultural strangeness, so it doesn't surprise me that the actual use of language is also dubious.

[taimatsu]

Oh, and my point in posting the link was to highlight that there are some sub-sections of Christianity which do use Hebrew names for God with varying levels of accuracy - the appropriateness or otherwise of this is a matter of opinion, obviously. It's not something that occurs within my religious background particularly...

[ploni-bat-ploni.livejournal.com]

LOL @ Trivium Two...

Wow, that's way out. And all that just to get your 'do' done.

Gives a new meaning to the concept of "Jewfro". Heh.

[curious-reader.livejournal.com]

You are right. I haven't noticed the name. I remember, however, having passed that shop. I had job interviews years ago in East London. I had to go to that tube station.

[curious-reader.livejournal.com]

I don't really understand what the shope with the name "Shaddai" has to do with the clocks.

[lethargic-man.livejournal.com]

Nothing; it was two unconnected points.