Why Do We Call It Hour and Minute Hands?

As we all know, there are two rods in these mechanical devices: hour and minute hands. While the hour hand is showing the time; The minute hand shows the minutes.

Well, even in English While there is no equivalent for ‘minute hand’why might we have given these names to these phrases that show the hours?

The hour hand is shorter and thicker than the minute hand.

This makes it easier to distinguish. The minute hand is generally longer and thinner. These differences help us measure time precisely. That’s all well and good, but we still wonder why the names hour and minute hands are used.

“petite aiguille” in French, “hour hand” in English The concept called “scorpion” appears in Turkish as “scorpion”. So, what is the reason for these differences?

The basis of this difference lies in an analogy to the nature of the scorpion.

The scorpion is a creature known for its fast and sudden movements, and these features are also reflected in the stick used as the indicator of the hour. The fast and sharp movements of the hour hand are reminiscent of the movement of the stick that shows the flow of time. Therefore, the bar that shows the time is in our language. It is called “scorpion”.

In other languages, a feature as sharp as ours does not stand out. To the agility of the scorpion ‘petite aiguille’, which means small needle in French, although it is not referenced; ‘hour hand’ is used in English.

Is there such a naming difference in the minute hand?

In fact, this nomenclature difference its basis is on the minute hand. Because it has no equivalent in different languages!

The minute hand, which is longer than the hour hand, is not used in European languages. English equivalent ‘minute hand’; In French, ‘grande augiille’, meaning a large needle, no different from a scorpion.

It is assumed that the minute hand, which has deep roots in Turkish, is derived from two words.

First, ‘to sail’ meaning hasty and fast, the other one is ‘yel koğan’ which means idle wanderer. Derived from the combination of these two words, “minute hand” refers to the relatively fast movement of the stick that shows the minutes.

The use of these two words is actually completely symbolic, these terms have been in our literature for centuries; Over time, it has settled into our language.

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