Usage and meaning of the word "original"

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Feb 09th 2011 15:04

I'd like to know if my usage of the word "original" is correct.

The physical/mathematical theory that James Maxwell created in 1861 in order to explain electromagnetic phenomena was an original theory. That means, it was a new theory that didn't exist before Maxwell created it.

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/original

The theory was "new; fresh; inventive; novel"
It was "created, undertaken, or presented for the first time:" in 1861.

TIA!

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Feb 09th 2011 15:05 moriah

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Japanese

Yep, you got it! Good job!

Feb 09th 2011 15:08 FreeCat

Wow. That was fast =] Thanks Moriah!

Feb 09th 2011 18:43 moriah

Haha, no problem!

Feb 09th 2011 15:06 Dendei

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Japanese

It's correct. Original can be used to describe anything that was the first in a line of things. If you drew a picture, then traced it, the first picture you drew would be the original.

It works for songs as well.
If you write a song, and someone makes changes to it, the one you wrote would be the original.

Hope this helped^^

Feb 09th 2011 15:09 FreeCat

Hi ギター９５ =] - it did help. Thanks a lot!

Feb 09th 2011 15:12 Jaunty

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Japanese

Yep, that sounds fine to me. My understanding of the history of the development of E&M was that most of the pieces (eg. Faraday's Law, Gauss' Law, etc.) were already known, but it was Maxwell who succeeded in unifying them into electromagnetism. His calculations relating E&M waves to light were indeed original, as far as I remember.

Feb 09th 2011 15:15 Dendei

This fine collection of English escapes even me lol

Feb 09th 2011 15:19 FreeCat

Yes, strictly speaking, the original part was the unification, I believe. Can I say, in a more general way, that EM theory was the original development of people like Faraday, Gauss, Ampere, Maxwell, and a few others? What I'm trying to get at is that the theory was created at some point as an 'original' idea.

Feb 09th 2011 15:36 Jaunty

Sure, it depends on what you want to emphasize. If it's the empirical laws that govern how charges and currents behave in a laboratory then those largely originated prior to Maxwell (by many of the scientists you mentioned). If it's the idea of E&M as a single unified theory, then I think that originated with Maxwell (describing both electricity and magnetism with the same laws).

Feb 09th 2011 15:53 FreeCat

Jaunty, thanks a lot for your answers! =]

FreeCat

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