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maze n. a network of paths and hedges designed as a puzzle through which one has to find a way.
labyrinth n. a complicated irregular network of passages or paths in which it is difficult to find one's way; a maze
The dictionary treats these words as synonyms. However, reading the Wiki article on Labyrinths today I discovered that a distinction has developed: The term labyrinth is often used interchangeably with maze, but modern scholars of the subject use a stricter definition. For them, a maze is a tour puzzle in the form of a complex branching passage with choices of path and direction; while a single-path (unicursal) labyrinth has only a single Eulerian path to the center. A labyrinth has an unambiguous through-route to the center and back and is not designed to be difficult to navigate. This is strange. My dictionary tries to tell me that the word labyrinth comes from Daedalus whose maze/labyrinth for the Minotaur was meant to be inextricable. Down a different path, I've always enjoyed that felicitous connection between a maze and amaze
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Mathematicians have a set of terms which are rigorously defined. That their term labyrinth does not agree to the same term in antiquity has little influence on them. Also, note the use of meant to be in the dictionary definition. Does anybody know if labyrinths in classical times were mazes or labyrinths in the mathematical sense?
Ceci n'est pas un seing.
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Does anybody know if labyrinths in classical times were mazes or labyrinths in the mathematical sense?
I'm not sure.
But maze comes from OE, labyrinth from the Greek. To the fussy-minded, this puts a Minotaur in the labyrinth, inextricably. But perhaps that labyrinth is both unicursal and infinite, or perhaps the time it takes the Minotaur to walk out of it exceeds the Minotaur's life span. In that case, the mathematicians' terminology squares with antiquity.
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That their term labyrinth does not agree to the same term in antiquity has little influence on them.
True. But scientists/mathematicians do draw on literature when naming stuff, and usually get it right. Quark is an obvious example. There are others.
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Does anybody know if labyrinths in classical times were mazes or labyrinths in the mathematical sense? I'd be almost certain that the correct answer to that question is "no."
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It depends on whether we are talking about real labyrinths or the labyrinths of ancient myth and legend.
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It depends on whether we are talking about real labyrinths or the labyrinths of ancient myth and legend.
Yes, a more proper question would've been: Does anybody know if any of the extant labyrinths in classical times are mazes or labyrinths in the mathematical sense?
Ceci n'est pas un seing.
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It depends on whether we are talking about real labyrinths or the labyrinths of ancient myth and legend.
Yes, a more proper question would've been: Does anybody know if any of the extant labyrinths in classical times are mazes or labyrinths in the mathematical sense? I've only ever heard of one being discovered. On Crete wasn't it? But don't remember what it was like. I don't think ancient legends describe mazes or labyrinths in any detail do they? And how many are there anyway, apart from the minotaur story?
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Wikipedia mentions both the labyrinths and mazes of history; but then again, it doesn't seem to stick to the mathematical distinction, using at one point the mathematical-oxymoron: "unicursal maze."
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I would have thought it's actually just an oxymoron. A 'mathematical oxymoron' would be itself an oxymoron, since oxymoron is not mathematical but a figure of speech. Rhetoric allows delightful ambiquities such as oxymorons, mathematics doesn't - it's either right or wrong.
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I meant (quite obviously, really, in the context of this thread) that "unicursal maze" is oxymoronic to the mathematic distinction between a maze and a labyrinth (where a maze has bifurcating pathways and a labyrinth a single pathway, i.e., is unicursal).
Must you constantly pick nits?
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Hey! Oxymoron itself is an oxymoron. There are two types of mazes. One you can traverse by taking every possible right turn and turning around when you get to a dead end. It's called a simply-connected maze. The other kind, a disjoint maze, you can't traverse using that technique.
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All right Pook. It's go time. Let's pick nits. A 'mathematical oxymoron' would be itself an oxymoron, since oxymoron is not mathematical but a figure of speech. Rhetoric allows delightful ambiquities such as oxymorons, mathematics doesn't - it's either right or wrong. Unless I have been deceived, mathematicians are capable of using words and words can be used to describe mathematical concepts. The descriptions may therefore include an oxymoron: "a four-sided circle". But that's completely besides the point. If you had read the thread, you would know exactly what I meant: Wiki's "unicursal maze" is oxymoronic according to the terms it outlined, which distinction, as a matter of fact, was not initially referred to by me as mathematical, nor even Wikipedia: but modern scholars of the subject use a stricter definition. Now, if you please, let my nits be.
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Hey! Oxymoron itself is an oxymoron. From the Greek for sharp and dull (i.e. figuratively clever and foolish)
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Hey! Oxymoron itself is an oxymoron. From the Greek for sharp and dull (i.e. figuratively clever and foolish) Time was when an oxymoron was probably intentional. E.g.: ...parting is such sweet sorrow ... --- Romeo and Juliet, Act 2, scene 2, 184
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Faith unfaithful kept him falsely true...
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Time was when an oxymoron was probably intentional.
Yes, it is a rhetorical figure, making it a usage concern, and not a solecism.
Ceci n'est pas un seing.
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Time was when an oxymoron was probably intentional.
Yes, it is a rhetorical figure, making it a usage concern, and not a solecism. Yes in its purest sense an oxymoron is intentional rhetoric, not accidental. But through popular usage it has come to mean also any contradiction in terms, especially one that is unintentionally ironic.
Last edited by The Pook; 07/08/08 04:23 AM.
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Is there an echo in here?
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formerly known as etaoin...
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It depends on whether we are talking about real labyrinths or the labyrinths of ancient myth and legend.
Yes, a more proper question would've been: Does anybody know if any of the extant labyrinths in classical times are mazes or labyrinths in the mathematical sense? I came across this page about ancient Petra in Nabatea that contains drawings and scratchings on rocks and pottery from various ancient places, of labyrinths. Scroll down to the bottom of the page to see them.
Last edited by The Pook; 07/15/08 04:03 AM.
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Some are unicursal, some are not.
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