[Fis] Original meaning in Greek for symmetry and entropy: Can any Greekscholar clarify what "sym" and "en" really mean?

Dear Gyuri,

1. Symmetry

Your definition on symmetry at
http://us.geocities.com/symmetrion/isa/symmetry.htm
is very good.

Could you ask a greek scholar to confirm if
the Greek term symmetria really means 'common measure'?

I remember Hargittai's book on symmetry once said that
symmetria is 'sameness measure'.

Can any Greek scholar clarify what does "sym" really mean?

2. Entropy

Quotation from http://www.bartleby.com/64/C004/024.html website:
Rudolf Clausius introduced the word entropy into the lexicon
of thermodynamics in 1865, he used a simple formula to construct
the word based on his understanding of the etymology of energy.
Intending for the prefix en- to mean contents, and the segment
-trop- to mean transformation, he spliced together entropy
to mean “contents that have been transformed.”

However, I remember in some other books I read that
entropy is "energy transformation". Can any Greek scholar
clarify what does "en" really mean?

Best regards,
Shu-Kun

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Received on Sat Apr 24 13:53:06 2004