12-12-12 : Cosmic Cycles

12-12-12 is a visually fascinating date, just like 11-11-11 was last year, and 1-1-1 was eleven years ago. This set of 12 successive years is a unique chronological sequence which will recur only after an interval of 88 years from now.

Of course, this timeframe bears a close resemblance to the cosmic routine of the Halley's Comet, which becomes visible on our skies once in about 75 years. So I was tempted this mathsbound morning to look for it in Wikipdia, which said:

"Halley's Comet.... is the best-known of the short-period comets and is visible from Earth every 75–76 years. Halley is the only short-period comet that is clearly visible to the naked eye from Earth.... Other comets may be brighter and more spectacular, but will appear only once in thousands of years...."

A lot of technical information followed, but I didn't read any further because this simple definition immediately set me visualizing cosmic cycles ranging from less than a hundred years to a thousand years and a million years, and I tried to work out the corresponding cyclic patterns of the triple-one-to-twelve sequence:

................................................

12 years:

1-1-1                 1 Jan. 2001
2-2-2                2 Feb. 2002
3-3-3                3 Mar. 2003
4-4-4                4 Apr. 2004
5-5-5                5 May 2005
6-6-6                6 Jun. 2006
7-7-7                 7 Jul. 2007
8-8-8                8 Aug. 2008
9-9-9                9 Sep. 2009
10-10-10          10 Oct. 2010
11-11-11            11 Nov. 2011
12-12-12          12 Dec. 2012
..................................................

Centennium Cycle

88 years interval
100 years after 1-1-2001
12 years:

1-1-1                 1 Jan. 2101
2-2-2                2 Feb. 2102
3-3-3                3 Mar. 2103
4-4-4                4 Apr. 2104
5-5-5                5 May 2105
6-6-6                6 Jun. 2106
7-7-7                 7 Jul. 2107
8-8-8                8 Aug. 2108
9-9-9                9 Sep. 2109
10-10-10          10 Oct. 2110
11-11-11            11 Nov. 2111
12-12-12          12 Dec. 2112
................................................

Millennium Cycle

988 years interval
1000 years after 1-1-2001
12 years:

1-1-1                1 Jan. 3001
2-2-2               2 Feb. 3002
3-3-3               3 Mar. 3003
4-4-4               4 Apr. 3004
5-5-5               5 May 3o05
6-6-6               6 Jun. 3006
7-7-7                7 Jul. 3007
8-8-8               8 Aug. 3008
9-9-9                9 Sep. 3009
10-10-10         10 Oct. 3010
11-11-11            11 Nov. 3011
12-12-12          12 Dec. 3012
...............................................

Millionnium Cycle

999,988 years interval
Million years after 1-1-2001
12 years:

1-1-1                1 Jan. 1,002,001
2-2-2               2 Feb. 1,002,002
3-3-3               3 Mar. 1,002,003
4-4-4               4 Apr. 1,002,004
5-5-5               5 May 1,002,005
6-6-6               6 Jun. 1,002,006
7--7-7               7 Jul. 1,002,007
8-8-8               8 Aug. 1,002,008
9-9-9                9 Sep. 1,002,009
10-10-10         10 Oct. 1,002,010
11-11-11            11 Nov. 1,002,011
12-12-12          12 Dec. 1,002,012
.................................................

Well, what wonderful mathematical insights did I gain by making this strenuous effort? Nothing really, because numbers don't make much sense to me! But I do have a flair for languages, and a passion for playing with words and names. So I was able to coin two brand-new words in the course of the exercise: 'centennium' and 'millionnium'. 

 

Of course, 'millennium' is a very familiar English word, dervied from the Latin words 'mille' (thousand) and 'annus' (year). But there's no such word as 'centennium', although we have 'centenary' (100th anniversary) and 'centennial' (100th anniversary, or relating thereto), derived from the Latin word 'centum' (hundred).

My question is: if we can say 'millennium' for a period of 1000 years, why can't we say 'centennium' for a period of 100 years? Of course, we do already have 'century' for 100 years -- we can continue to use it in ordinary contexts, but 'centennium' would sound far better in historic, scientific and other academic scenarios!

 

As regards, the other expression, 'million' has no Latin roots, but 'millionnium' does sound very Latinish! Why can't we adopt it?

 

In recent years English has assimilated many newly-minted words, especially in scientific and technological contexts, and the Oxford English Dictionary has included them in up-to-date editions. I hope the editors of OED will seriously consider 'centennium' and 'millionnium' for inclusion, and give me due credit for the initiative!