German »Raute« (was: U+25CA LOZENGE)

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
Received on Mon Aug 13 2012 - 15:18:06 CDT