Talk:Nonagon

Greek vs. Latin

"Nonagon" has a Latin prefix and a Greek suffix. Why do so many people prefer this term?? Do they really know the difference between Latin and Greek?? HI66.32.253.241 19:52, 19 Aug 2004 (UTC)

In contrast, "quadrilateral" is a perfectly okay word; it is totally Latin, as opposed to "tetragon", which is totally Greek. "Nonagon", OTOH, is a mixture. A word of the same kind "nonagon" is would be "quadrigon" or "tetralateral". 66.245.118.250 20:19, 19 Aug 2004 (UTC)

Nonagon is entirely Latin: it is an actual Latin word. The actual Greek word is enneagonon. --Eequor 20:36, 19 Aug 2004 (UTC)

Where did you learn that "-gon" is a Latin suffix?? I always thought the correct Latin suffix was -"angle" or -"lateral". 66.32.252.8 21:50, 19 Aug 2004 (UTC)

Latin does use the -gon suffix. Pentagon, octagon, nonagon, decagon, and undecagon are all words found in Latin. -angle, -gon, and -lateral additionally have different meanings. -angle refers to an angle, which is not exactly the same as a corner, which is -gon. -lateral refers to the sides. --Eequor 23:25, 19 Aug 2004 (UTC)

True or false: some of these words are words that came from Greek through Latin to English. 66.32.246.242 23:47, 19 Aug 2004 (UTC)

I don't see how that matters. The point is, in English all of those words are identical to the Latin words; they were simply "borrowed". It's basically irrelevant that they were in turn derived from Greek words; modern English uses the Latin form, not the Greek form. Should we consider you to be an improper spelling of iu (Old High German) because that is the earliest known form of the word? --Eequor 04:26, 20 Aug 2004 (UTC)

I think the best argument for enneagon is consistency. Almost all Greek words came into English through Latin, but the point is this, that Latin had its own set of native words (triangle, quadrangle, and similar ones with -lateral) and to confuse the prefixes is to ignore the difference between Latin and Greek. Another question is whether "nonagon" actually existed in classical Latin, and if we searched for it (I have no evidence at hand, we might find that nonagon was invented much more recently, perhaps by someone without much knowledge of Latin or Greek prefixes. If you wanted a fully Latin form, you could use *nonangle or *nonalateral. Unlike the word "television" (also a mix of Latin and Greek), nonagon is a chiefly technical term, so I think it makes sense to be consistent and use the Greek prefix ennea-. Lesgles 20:30, 18 September 2005 (UTC)

Isn't it -gonum? Yuhani (talk) 03:02, 21 November 2019 (UTC)

Since I was a child I remember being taught in primary school that a 9 sided shape is called a 'nonagon'. Frankly I have never EVER heard of the word 'enneagon'. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 77.97.245.229 (talk) 23:39, 30 September 2016 (UTC)

Move page?

Should this page not be moved to Nonagon, rather than redirected from there? Mathworld uses "nonagon" as the standard term (see http://mathworld.wolfram.com/Nonagon.html). Jacquerie27 13:32, 14 Jan 2005 (UTC)

I agree with moving this page: Please move to Nonagon, as a number of well established dictionaries do not know the term Enneagon, I think the Wikipedia should be to inform, not reducate the world of a slight mistake in the way that Latin is used instead of Greek. -- Chris Ashley

And it is re-educate, not reducate. Professor M. Fiendish, Esq. 08:02, 23 August 2009 (UTC)

I agree as well. The "List of Geometric Shapes" should likewise be modified. The question for Wikipedia is not "what should the word for a 9-sided polygon be?", but "what is the word for a 9-sided polygon?". And in practice, "nonagon" is used far more often. One could add a line to the article, something like "Although some have maintained that enneagon is linguistically preferable, nonagon is the commonly used term.". -- Frank Adams-Watters

Agreed per everyone. I use nonagon all the time. Kamope · talk · contributions 11:50, 1 February 2007 (UTC)

why is the page on enneagon if the most commonly used term is nonagon? ▓░ Dark Devil ░▓ ( Talk ♥ Contribs ) 11:22, 14 April 2007 (UTC)

"Exact" - Regular Nonagon

I don't agree with this statement:

Although a regular enneagon is not constructable with compass and straightedge there are methods of constructing that are very close approximations.

--Paulancka 18:59, 5 April 2007 (UTC)paulancka

Your agreement aside, it's still mathematically impossible. See Constructible polygon for more. Your animation shows a NON compass-and-straight-edge construction, so it is not relevant.

Riventree (talk) 17:57, 11 November 2018 (UTC)

Approximations

User @Riventree: has added statements about the accuracy of several approximate constructions. While there is nothing wrong with this, they are still unsourced results and need citations. In an earlier revert I put "lacking context" and "poorly written" in the edit summary. In this I was mistaken in attributing these problems to Riventree, and I apologize. However, these problems still exist. This is especially true about the second two animated constructions and the brief write-ups associated with them. None of this material is sourced (the one citation is to a wiki and therefore not considered reliable) so I can't even begin to rewrite the section. The first two animations in this section are somewhat self-explanatory, but I think that this is a poor way to deliver content and, no matter how well executed, still needs written explanatory remarks. --Bill Cherowitzo (talk) 18:38, 1 November 2018 (UTC)

Concur, strongly, about "no matter how well executed, still needs written explanatory remarks". I tip my hat for "I was mistaken", that was kind.

Riventree (talk) 22:59, 1 November 2018 (UTC)

Requested move 14 January 2020

The following is a closed discussion of a requested move. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on the talk page. Editors desiring to contest the closing decision should consider a move review after discussing it on the closer's talk page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.

The result of the move request was: not moved. (closed by non-admin page mover) feminist (talk) 01:57, 25 January 2020 (UTC)

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• Nonagon → Enneagon
• Nonagonal number → Enneagonal number
• Centered nonagonal number → Centered enneagonal number

– The name with the Greek prefix seems to be the more "proper" name, for consistency with the pages Enneagonal prism and Enneahedron. I have reverted all of Jiho Ha's moves because the comments from 2004 at the top of Talk:Nonagonal number show that the moves are controversial, and need discussion. GeoffreyT2000 (talk) 19:14, 14 January 2020 (UTC)

• Support. Consistency with other polygon names like pentagon and hexagon. Georgia guy (talk) 19:18, 14 January 2020 (UTC)

Oppose - This ngram shows that nonagon is the common name for this shape. Interstellarity (talk) 23:28, 14 January 2020 (UTC)

Comment. Interstellarity's argument appears to be saying quantity is more important than quality. (Specifically the statement that how frequently the word is used is what's important; I see this as an example of quantity.) Georgia guy (talk) 23:36, 14 January 2020 (UTC)

• Oppose move. Just because it's a Greek/Latin bastardization doesn't mean it can't be the common name. O.N.R. ^(talk) 02:39, 15 January 2020 (UTC)
• Oppose - no evidence that "nonagon" is not the COMMONNAME. -- Netoholic @ 12:05, 15 January 2020 (UTC)
• Oppose per WP:COMMONNAME.  — Amakuru (talk) 22:11, 22 January 2020 (UTC)
• Oppose per COMMONNAME. CThomas³ (talk) 01:14, 24 January 2020 (UTC)

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The above discussion is preserved as an archive of a requested move. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on this talk page or in a move review. No further edits should be made to this section.

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