Time
The only resource that can't be hoarded or recovered โ but it can be sold. We can make ours our own โ and/or just let it run us.
How We Say It
tฤซm
Where It Comes From
Old English tฤซma โ limited space of time, fitting moment. Related to Old Norse tรญmi. The standardization of clock time, time zones, and synchronized scheduling is a development of the industrial era, especially with the rise of railways requiring coordinated schedules across distances.
How It's Been Used
Measured by clocks and calendars whose conventions are themselves cultural โ the seven-day week is Babylonian, the twelve-month calendar Roman and Gregorian. Einstein established that time is not absolute but depends on the observer's frame of reference. The commodification of time โ time as money, time as a resource to be managed โ is a feature of industrial and post-industrial societies.