Re: letter vs. a4 (and leger lines)

[David Rogers]

* David Raleigh Arnold <address@hidden> [2010-09-02 08:27]:

> There it is. Since he was the only one who actually did any work
> on it, the way the other self styled authorities should have and
> *didn't*, one has to satisfy Grove. ;-)
>
> The French leger for light *or slight* satisfies me. They
> are "slight lines" aren't they? They aren't lines of a big heavy old
> book or lines of accounts are they?
>
> I doubt "ledger", beam, and "ledger", big book, are the same word
> either. The wooden ledger is probably a beam that makes a ledge.
> IMO people who wrote music were unlikely to have even known that
> word. How many know what a lag bolt or lag screw are? (lai
>
> Report Card:
>
> Grove: C
> The rest: F

It would be good to recognize that there is no correct etymological
derivation available without further research in original documents from
the era when the word was introduced, and until that new research is
done, all proposed spellings and all proposed meanings will have to be
accepted equally and without prejudice. The fact that one derivation &
corresponding spelling satisfies you, and another derivation & spelling
satisfies others, simply shows that a truly convincing conclusion is not
currently possible. (The required information may very well have died
with the person who coined this usage, and so we may have to live with
two spellings forever.)

Just for good measure (or bad measure :-) ), another possible meaning
could be "lines resembling the ruling in a ledger book, i.e. square with
the page and evenly spaced relative to each other". But I just made that
up, and it's no better than any of the others. (I also can't see that
it's much _worse_ than any of the others.)

--
Thanks
David