Where does “24-hour clock” come from?
24-hour clock (English) comes from English clock, from Middle English clokke, from Middle Dutch clocke, from Old Dutch *clocca, from Proto-West Germanic *klokkā, from Medieval Latin clocca, from Old Irish cloc, from Proto-Celtic klokkos.
24-hour clock (English): A timekeeping convention in which the 24 hours of the day are treated as a single period rather than two sets of 12 hours, with the result that midnight is indicated as 00:00 (or sometimes 24:00), and the hours from 1:00 to 11:00 p.m. as 13:00 to 23:00
Definitions
- A timekeeping convention in which the 24 hours of the day are treated as a single period rather than two sets of 12 hours, with the result that midnight is indicated as 00:00 (or sometimes 24:00), and the hours from 1:00 to 11:00 p.m. as 13:00 to 23:00
Ancestry of “24-hour clock”, step by step
24-hour clock traces back through two separate lines of ancestry.
via English clock
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | English | clock | An instrument used to measure or keep track of... |
| 2 | Middle English | clokke | clock, timekeeping device |
| 3 | Middle Dutch | clocke | bell; something bell-shaped |
| 4 | Old Dutch | *clocca | bell |
| 5 | Proto-West Germanic | *klokkā | bell |
| 6 | Medieval Latin | clocca | bell; travelers' cape, literally “a bell”, so... |
| 7 | Old Irish | cloc | bell; clock |
| 8 | Proto-Celtic | klokkos | bell |
| 9 | Proto-Indo-European | klēg- | — |
via English hour
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | English | hour | A time period of sixty minutes; one twenty-fourth... |
| 2 | Middle English | houre | hour; A time, occasion, or moment; A canonical... |
| 3 | Old French | houre | hour; time; moment to do something |
| 4 | Latin | hōra | hour |
| 5 | Ancient Greek | ὥρα | any defined period of time; season; climate |
| 6 | Proto-Hellenic | *worā | — |
| 7 | Proto-Indo-European | wēr- | true |
| 8 | Proto-Indo-European | wer- | to burn; to cover, heed, notice; squirrel |