Hello,
am 2012-08-13 20:48, schrieb Leif Halvard Silli:
The word 'Raute' reminds of the Norwegian 'rute' - and my Norwegian
book on etymology assumes that 'rute' is derived from 'Raute'. The
Norwegian 'rute' may refer to a cell in a (data) table or in a square
board for chess. Such a 'rute' is of course a square. Perhaps German
'Raute' has a similar possibility of being interpreted as square?
Btw, the Norwegian for 'diamond', in the playing card sense, is
'ruter'. The 'ruter' in the playing card sense, is easily associated
with 'rute' - in other words: square. However, we see that it is not a
square, in the "normal" sense. The modern German name for diamond
cards, Karo, "geht auf lateinisch quadrum „Viereck, Quadrat“ zurück".
<http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karo_(Farbe)>
In German, »Raute« is a synonym of »Rhombus«, i. e.
an equilateral quadrilateral. Hence, every »Raute«
is a »Quadrat« (square), but not vice versa.
(A square has also four equal angels.)
Rhombuses are often depicted resting on a vertex,
whilst squares are usually depicted resting on an edge.
But the orientation of a geometrical shape really does
not change its geometric features, nor its name.
Best wishes,
Otto Stolz
