Een vervelende denkfouth

Welshman Robert Recorde schreef in 1557 het boek "The Whetstone of Witte", waarin het gelijkheidsteken werd geïntroduceerd. In datzelfde werk beschreef hij ook de achtste macht. Of anders gezegd: het kwadraat van het kwadraat van het kwadraat ('square of squares squaredly'). Maar in die tijd werkte men nog niet, zoals nu, met 'superscript' om zoiets uit te drukken. Recorde vond daarom de term 'zenzizenzizenzic' uit. 

Erg creatief wel van die meneer Recorde. Mogelijk zag hij een gat in de rond die tijd opkomende moderne woordenboeken en besloot het meteen met een statement van een woord te vullen. Maar je botst met dit soort constructies toch al snel op een aantal limieten.

(denk er in onderstaand extract zelf de -th's uit het Early Modern English bij; zoals in 'Thou art thyself, though not a Montague' enzoverder dus)

Philip (broer en vertrouweling van Robert Recorde): "Robert, we have a problem."

Robert: "What now? Don't tell me that damned dog's eaten my bloody whig again?"

P: "No, no. It's a matter of a completely different nature this time. But I'll go check on the dog right after this."

R: "So, what is it?"

P: "They invented the square of squares of squares squaredly."

R: "They did what?"

P: "They invented the square of square of ..."

R: "Yes, yes, I heard you the first time. That's proposterous!"

P: "Some mathematician from Manchester claims he has invented it."

R: "Dear Lord! From Manchester!"

P: "Yeah...!"

R: "Anyway, why is this a problem? Nobody's going to need such ridiculously high numbers after all. Can you imagine the size of the abacus needed to work with them? Nobody's ever going to put that into practice."

P: "Well, I was thinking that sooner or later there's going to be some french king..."

R: "You're right... those damned frogs and their stupid self-important kings!"

P: "And what's even worse... they're going to need a new word for this."

R: "Yes... and?"

P: "Don't you see where this is going? They'll probably call it 'zenzizenzizenzizenzic.'. And then when they invent the square of that, it's going to be 'zenzizenzizenzizenzi...'".

R: "Yes, alright, alright! I get it! .... Good lord, I'm going to be the laughing stock at every single royal court, aren't I? .... Think we can still stop those bloody monks from copying the manuscript?"

P: "I'm afraid not. I heard they're as good as finished... But fortunately we still have that 'equals' sign."

R: "Oh, who bloody cares about that silly thing?!"