Also, I've been seeing a lot of clocks - usually quite old clocks - that say IIII instead of IV for 4:00. I have no idea why, and I was wondering if anyone out there could tell me. :)
There's actually a lot of speculation about that. Most of the possible reasons have to do with visual symmetry (the four and the eight look nice across from eachoter, there are four numbers with only I's, four with Vs, and four with Xs). Another reason could be that Louis XVI decided that he liked IIII better than IV and had his clocks made like that, and it became tradition. Also, it was easier to cast the numbers that way: they didn't need a separate mold for the I before the V. Also, to avoid confusing people who weren't too great at roman numerals. YAYYYY!
There's actually a lot of speculation about that. Most of the possible reasons have to do with visual symmetry (the four and the eight look nice across from eachoter, there are four numbers with only I's, four with Vs, and four with Xs). Another reason could be that Louis XVI decided that he liked IIII better than IV and had his clocks made like that, and it became tradition. Also, it was easier to cast the numbers that way: they didn't need a separate mold for the I before the V. Also, to avoid confusing people who weren't too great at roman numerals. YAYYYY!
ReplyDeleteMaggie why do you know everything? :-P
ReplyDeleteMy research skills are UNFATHOMABLE. Also Latin. We spent something like a week on roman numerals.
ReplyDelete