paths, numbers, words

In lieu of a real entry I will post some links I found amusing:

• Online Etymology Dictionary
• Berkeley Path Wanderers Association

The etymological dictionary has a lovely quote at the top of the page:

``It is often forgotten that (dictionaries) are artificial repositories, put together well after the languages they define. The roots of language are irrational and of a magical nature.'' -- Jorge Luis Borges, Prologue to "El otro, el mismo."

Paths, numbers, words: they all have a magical quality to me.

``I sometimes have the feeling that the number system is comparable with the universe that the astronomer is studying...The number system is something like a cosmos.'' -- M. Jutila, found on oonh's webpage.

In Swedish they (allegedly) describe something truly ancient as being `as old as the streets.' The streets, like our words, have come about through aeons of evolution. Now their character is mysterious, but by delving into it we can search the mystery of antiquity. Archaeology can be performed not only on paths and words but on numbers. Like words, we carry the number system with us wherever we go, and most often we are totally oblivious to its strangeness and mystery. Look through the fractal microscope and you'll catch a glimpse of that cosmos. This geography comes about not of human communication, but of -- of what? The structure of the fabric of reality?