Moment (time)

A moment (momentum) was a medieval unit of time. The movement of a shadow on a sundial covered 40 moments in a solar hour. An hour in this case means one twelfth of the period between sunrise and sunset. The length of a solar hour depended on the length of the day, which in turn varied with the season, so the length of a moment in modern seconds was not fixed, but on average, a moment corresponds to 90 seconds: A day was divided into 24 hours (of unequal lengths, twelve hours of the day and the night each), and an hour was divided into four puncta (quarter-hours), ten minuta and 40 momenta.

The unit was used by medieval computists before the introduction of the mechanical clock and the base 60 system in the late 13th century. The unit would not have been used in everyday life. For our medieval counterparts the main marker of the passage of time was the call to prayer at intervals throughout the day.

The earliest reference we have to the moment is from the 8th century writings of the Venerable Bede. Bede describes the system as 1 hour = 4 points = 10 minutes = 15 parts = 40 moments. Bede was referenced four centuries later by Bartholomeus Anglicus in his early encyclopedia De Proprietatibus Rerum (On the Properties of Things). Centuries after Bede's description, the moment was further divided into 60 ostents, although no such divisions could ever have been used in observation with equipment in use at the time.

Moment

Moment or Moments may refer to:

Science, engineering, and mathematics

Art and entertainment

Albums

Songs

Other media

Moment (album)

Moment is Japanese J-pop band Speed's greatest hits album following their first album, Starting Over and second album, Rise. Moment was released on December 16, 1998 and contains all the commercially released singles from their first and second albums along with additional tracks. Debuting at number 1 on the Oricon charts and eventually selling 2.32 million copies, Moment is the best-selling album by a female group in Japanese music history.

Track listing

References

Le Moment

Le Moment was a French language daily newspaper published from Bucharest. The newspaper was founded in 1935 by Alfred Hefter, and according to Emery Reves it was in serious difficulties and about to go under in May 1939. The paper ceased publication in 1940.

References