We return to the alphabet’s end with a word that’s as wonderfully weird, yet buzzily beautifully in sound as it is obscure and obsolete – an antiquated mathematical term meaning the eighth power of a number x, where x is multiplied by itself 8 times. In short, the zenzizenzizenzic of x is x8). It dates back to the 16th century, when such terms were written out in words rather than as superscript numbers, and was suggested by Robert Recorde, a 16th-century Welsh physician, mathematician and writer of popular mathematics textbooks, in his 1557 work The Whetstone of Witte. He also had an alternative spelling, being zenzizenzizenzike, but wrote, rather neatly that it “doeth represent the square of squares squaredly”.
The root word for Recorde's notation is zenzic, which is a German spelling of the medieval Italian word censo, meaning 'squared'. A slightly later use comes in a more modern spelling, zenzicube, is found in the British mathematician from Rye, East Sussex, Samuel Jeake’s book, Arithmetick Surveighed and Reviewed. The word zenzizenzizenzic denotes the square of the square of a number's square, which is its eighth power. And in modern notation, and zenzizenzizenzizenzike (the square of the square of the square of the square, or 16th power) as shown in a table in Jeake’s A Compleat Body of Arithmetick (1701).
Music and mathematics are often alighned and there has even been several songs (you could call them piece of eight) inspired by the zenzizenzizenzic, including this piece of electronica by Vancouver-based musician dand visual artist Myk Eff:
Here are a couple of other zenzizenzizenzic songs, including The Paris Buns, aka Brooklyn-based artist William Sisskind, and below, another similarly titled number by Colorfeels, the band from Nashville, Tennessee. They are not alone.
Feel free to share anything in relation to the power of eight, in particular zenzizenzizenzic, whether in music or wider culture, such as from film, art, or other contexts, in comments below.
You can also get in touch the contact page, and also visit us on social media: Song Bar Twitter, Song Bar Facebook. Song Bar YouTube. and Song Bar Instagram. Please subscribe, follow and share. New to comment? It is quick and easy. You just need to login to Disqus once. All is explained in About/FAQs ...
Song Bar is non-profit and is simply about sharing great music. We don’t do clickbait or advertisements. Please make any donation to help keep the Bar running: