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Re: To Trinary or not to Ternaryby allolex (Curate) |
on Dec 05, 2003 at 20:50 UTC ( [id://312634]=note: print w/replies, xml ) | Need Help?? |
I think they use "trinary" in the Camel book because most English speakers can immediately grasp the meaning of the word, especially when it is listed alongside "unary" and "binary". The prefix tern- came into English from Latin, via Old (Norman) French. The prefix tr(e)i- is a direct borrowing (by scientists) from Latin or Greek. This is excerpted from the Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd Ed.: trinary, a. and n. rare.
ternary, a. and n. 40 years isn't a lot of time in the history of English. I'd say it's just misplaced snobbism.
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