MINUTE (Lat. minutes, small; minuere, to make less)
This article appears in Volume V18, Page 565 of the Encyclopedia Britannica.
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Encyclopedia Britannica - Main :: MIC-MOL
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MINUTE (Lat. minutes, small; minuere, to make less) , an adjective meaning of very small size, petty or trifling; also extremely precise. In this sense the word is pronounced mi-mite. As a substantive and pronounced minnit the word (usually in the plural) is applied to a written summary of the transactions of a meeting See Also: - MEETING (from " to meet," to come together, assemble, 0. Eng. metals ; cf. Du. moeten, Swed. mota, Goth. gamotjan, &c., derivatives of the Teut. word for a meeting, seen in O. Eng. Wit, moot, an assembly of the people; cf. witanagemot)
of a public or other body , or to a memorandum of instructions, &c. A Treasury minute in the United Kingdom is an official memorandum authorizing certain procedure . " To minute " is to draw up such a summary or memorandum. More particularly, " minute " is used of the sixtieth part of any unit); in time, of an hour; and in astronomy, geometry, geography, &c., of a degree in the measurement of a circle. The sexagesimal system of division was originally used by the ancient Babylonian astronomers, was adopted by Ptolemy ; and the sixtieth part of a degree, and its further subdivision into sixty parts, was called in Latin pars minutae primae, and pars minutae secundae respectively, hence the English " minute " and " second."
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