Timeline for Is "puntal" an accepted and defined geometric term?
Current License: CC BY-SA 3.0
14 events
| when toggle format | what | by | license | comment | |
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| Aug 29, 2013 at 1:10 | comment | added | blah238 | Fair enough. It sounds like there is no revelation to be had here. Unless one of those obscure software developers happens upon this question and explains themselves :) | |
| Aug 28, 2013 at 18:38 | comment | added | whuber | @blah238 I studied counterpoint and never encountered "puntal" in the literature. The Wikipedia page you reference doesn't include that word, either: it always appears as part of "contrapuntal." That shares its root with "punctual", coming from Latin punctis (point). The Spanish word "puntal" surely has the same derivation but--I repeat--it is not an English word. I wouldn't lose any sleep over terms introduced in obscure software by unidentified developers and I certainly wouldn't draw any inferences about English from them! | |
| Aug 28, 2013 at 13:48 | comment | added | blah238 | Never disagreed with that, just looking for evidence of the origin of "puntal" in the geometric sense now. I'm guessing some GIS developer was either Spanish, Italian, Dutch, or a fan of contrapuntal music :) | |
| Aug 28, 2013 at 9:29 | comment | added | MappaGnosis | @Blah: Punctual is surely closer to punctum than puntal? A quick Google search does show geometric references to punctual as the adjectival form of point. For instance the disambiguation link from 'punctuality' in Wikipedia links to the geometry definition of 'point' and the thefreedictionary.com/punctual lists the mathematical definition. A quick google of 'punctual kriging' generates numerous results too. OTOH, 'puntal' is not a term I have see used and the 'Google test' seems to yield mostly Spanish definitions for the word. | |
| Aug 28, 2013 at 1:06 | comment | added | blah238 | I am guessing that "puntal" is just a vulgarization of the Latin "punctum". | |
| Aug 28, 2013 at 0:54 | comment | added | blah238 | Music theory definition: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Counterpoint | |
| Aug 28, 2013 at 0:42 | comment | added | blah238 | I am seeing a few references of the word in medical and music theory discussions, but I'm really digging deep in the Google results and no geometric references so far. So I believe it's a real word, just extremely rarely used. | |
| Aug 27, 2013 at 23:53 | answer | added | Martin F | timeline score: 2 | |
| Aug 27, 2013 at 21:31 | comment | added | blah238 | I agree that it sounds like "punctual" is the canonical definition I was looking for. However, what is the etymology of "puntal" as used in the same sense, especially in the geospatial projects I referenced? Is it an Americanization of "punctual"? | |
| Aug 27, 2013 at 21:19 | history | tweeted | twitter.com/#!/StackGIS/status/372468384090570753 | ||
| Aug 27, 2013 at 16:00 | comment | added | whuber | @MappaGnosis That's right--and you can often find this definition near the end of the list of alternative definitions of "punctual." My sense has been that "punctual" tends to be British (continental) English and is less frequently seen in American English (except, of course, in the writings of ex-patriates). | |
| Aug 27, 2013 at 15:40 | comment | added | MappaGnosis | Punctual is also used to mean 'having the characteristics of a point' in maths literature and this definition is listed in many dictionaries. | |
| Aug 27, 2013 at 15:22 | comment | added | whuber | AFAIK "puntal" is not even English (it's a Spanish word). However, "punctual" is English and--although it has a completely different colloquial meaning (being on time)--it has been used in a similar technical sense in the geostatistics literature: see, e.g., "punctual kriging." | |
| Aug 27, 2013 at 15:18 | history | asked | blah238 | CC BY-SA 3.0 |