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Which are the names of fractions like 1/3, 2/3, 4/3, which are now in disuse or render obsolete. I saw a bit of time ago, a book that mentioned the names associated to those fractions (instead of the modern one-third, etc), but, I can not remember title of the book. It was a book regarding arithmetic and algebra. Some web related to those topics?

Ramonio Taxus
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  • Please clarify your specific problem or provide additional details to highlight exactly what you need. As it's currently written, it's hard to tell exactly what you're asking. – Community Sep 14 '23 at 20:23
  • Those three fractions. I would not say in old english. In the period of 1800s – Ramonio Taxus Sep 14 '23 at 20:25
  • Ver probably, the words for the above fractions with latin/greek/ prefixes – Ramonio Taxus Sep 14 '23 at 20:27
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    @RamonioTaxus Please [edit] more information into your question; don't leave important stuff in comments. What you might also explain is what you mean by the "name": those fractions are vulgar fractions. Are you saying that thirds have a particular name and asking what that is? – Andrew Leach Sep 15 '23 at 07:27

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Possibly you are looking for the word tierce. It appears that an archaic meaning of this is one third. However, I don't believe that this meaning was ever common in English, and it is now completely forgotten.

From Wiktionary:

(obsolete) A third.

From etymonline:

Also used in Middle English for "a third part" (late 15c.), "the third hour of the canonical day" (ending at 9 a.m.), late 14c., and, in astronomy and geometry, "sixtieth part of a second of an arc."

Peter Shor
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    Even more obscure is "farthing", which once meant a quarter. It's only real use was as an archaic unit of old British currency (abolished 1971) and used by J R R Tolkien for the four subdivisions of the Shire. – DJClayworth Sep 14 '23 at 21:38
  • My only experience with "tierce" is from fencing, where it was a fancier name for the third hand position (which, indeed, we called "third"). – user888379 Sep 14 '23 at 21:46
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    It's also an obsolete measure of volume — a third of a pipe, or 42 gallons. – Peter Shor Sep 14 '23 at 21:48