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Quiddity is in my dictionary, but no date given. I am sure however that it is much older than Gilbert & Sullivan.
Two of the words you quote are in G&S "Patience"
BUNTHORNE
To stuff his conversation full of quibble and of
quiddity,
To dine on chops and roly-poly pudding with
avidity--
He'd better clear away with all convenient
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Carpal Tunnel
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quasihemidemisemicentury, on the other hand....(1/16 century, per wwh's definition) British musicians call an 8th note a "quaver". I undersatnd the terms for shorter notes (1/16th, 1/32nd, 1/64th, and 1/128th) are semiquaver, demisemiquaver, hemisimidemiquaver, and quasihemidemisemiquaver (whew). So the last would be 1/16th of a quaver.
(Edit: which fits right into our "time" subject.)
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OP
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In reply to:
what would or could time be, if not linear?
Spatial.
And I don't care if the OED does say "spatial as opposed to time" ... what do they know, anyway,
except what we tell them.
If time isn't spatial then why do authors and scientist talk about the space-time continuum and doors
to other times and space portals and E =MC squared and all that stuff?
Huh? Huh?
the space-time continuum refers to the four "standard" dimensions; i.e., the three dimensions of space plus time, but. there appear to be "discontinuities" in the space-time continuum, such as the origin of space-time (the Big Bang, if you like). one explanation for this comes from Stephen Hawking (see 'A Brief History of Time') in the form of "imaginary time", which flows at right angles to ordinary time!
http://library.thinkquest.org/27930/time.htm
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There is *nothing like a theory about an imaginary existence based on a relationship (ie. right angles) to a presumption of time being linear. 
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Musick : Welcome to my timeless world. wow
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veteran
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veteran
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On Sunday last, we sang in church that great classic hymn with words by Isaac Watts with the stanzas, A thousand ages in thy sight Are like an evening gone; Short as the watch that ends the night Before the rising sun. Time, like an ever-rolling stream, Bears all its sons away; They fly, forgotten, as a dream Dies at the opening day. There was originally asnother stanza, now always omitted, between these two: The busy tribes of flesh and blood With all their lives and cares Are carried downwards by thy flood, And lost in following years.
An interesting conceit in this poetry, that it is Time that takes us off this mortal coil, rather than Death, or, eschewing abstraction, sickness, accident, or homicide or the instruments of the same. A rather deep metaphysical device, this transference of the agency of Death to Time.
Raising you one D, how about this expression, at once more down to earth and still theologically and metaphysically challenging, by Dr. Donne:
Death be not proud, though some have called thee
Mighty and dreadfull, for, thou art not soe,
For, those whom thou think'st thou dost overthrow
Die not, poore death, nor yet canst thou kill mee.
From rest and sleepe, which but thy pictures bee,
Much pleasure, then from thee, much more must flow,
And soonest our best men with thee doe goe,
Rest of their bones and soules deliverie.
Thou art slave to Fate, Chance, kings, and desperate men,
And dost with poyson, warre, and sicknesse dwell,
And poppie, or charmes can make us sleepe as well,
And better than thy stroake; why swell'st thou then?
One short sleepe past, wee wake eternally,
And death shall be no more; death, thou shalt die.
Philosophy aside, would you agree with me that the 8th line of this is a masterpiece? It's one of my favorite lines in all literature.
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or if you'd like a graphic explaination about time-- and the big bang, try this..
long url has been deleted-- see tsumw post below for a shorter url to same url....
oh no, that's going to make the threads go wide...ok, I'll leave it up for a day or two, and then ditch it.
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>the total cessation of existence
this thread may have set some sort of standard for staying on topic... but it has probably just been quordlepated.
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old hand
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old hand
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>the total cessation of existence
this thread may have set some sort of standard for staying on topic... First I read straying in place of "staying"  . But more seriously: To ask whether time exists is to ask for begging the question, since existence can hardly be considered without implying time (and vice versa). And time approaches linearity, like all continuously differentiable functions, at the infinitesimally short limit. Where human age is concerned, I favor logarithmic time.
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