How did people refer to clockwise movement before the invention of the clock?

zephyr@lemmy.world to No Stupid Questions@lemmy.world – 325 points –

Was there an alternative adjective to "clockwise" other than "the rotation you take around left hand"?

Also, how did all watch companies around the world agree on what the direction of "clockwise" is?

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In czech, we have a phrase "jak sa kráje chleba" (same way as a bread is sliced). Problem is, that (at least in my social group) nobody knows, wether it means clockwise or anticlockwise, as everybody slices the bread differently.

same way as a bread is sliced

Haha interesting, but how do you slice bread by rotation? it's up to down. That's how you cut stuff.

  1. Grip the bread vertically to your chest.
  2. Start cutting in direction from the front to the back.
  3. Slowly rotate the bread, so you cut the crust only in one point (the tip of the knive moves through already cut bread).

It may be easier to see it with a short knive.