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- Title
‘Symmetry’ for Bilateral Symmetry.
- Authors
Selzer, Michael I.
- Abstract
The article discusses the history of the word "symmetry." The author suggests that the word referred to well-proportioned shapes in the Classical and Renaissance periods, while it first referred to bilateral symmetry in a text by Pope Pius II, followed by the 1499 book "Hypnerotomachia Poliphili" by Francesco Colonna and the 1537 architectural treatise "Fourth Book of Architecture" by Sebastiano Serlio. The author explores Serlio's use of the word in reference to bilateral symmetry and analyzes Flemish and French translations of Serlio's usage of the word. Also discussed is the 1623 use of the word in the book "Manière de bâtir pour toutes sortes de personnes" by architect Pierre Le Muet and the 1756 use of the word in the essay "On the Sublime and Beautiful" by Edmund Burke.
- Subjects
HISTORY of the English language; ENGLISH etymology; SYMMETRY; LITERATURE; SERLIO, Sebastiano, 1475-1554; LITERATURE translations; LE Muet, Pierre; ARCHITECTURAL writing; BURKE, Edmund, 1729-1797; HYPNEROTOMACHIA Poliphili (Book); COLONNA, Francesco, d. 1527; PROPORTION
- Publication
Notes & Queries, 2011, Vol 58, Issue 3, p417
- ISSN
0029-3970
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1093/notesj/gjr128