Lexicon:Modern/Swynstoen
| Swynstoen | |
|---|---|
| Stage | Modern CLT |
| Pronunciation | /ˈswɪn.stɔɪn/ |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| Etymology | from Middle sūnstōnē, from Proto sunston; swyn (sun) + stoen (stone) |
| Related words | swynposta, Reimach, Soyl, Yeirath |
Swynstoen — sun-stone; a monumental standing pillar whose noon shadow is marked to determine the solstices and equinoxes.
Notes
The great civic instruments: the Academy pillar at Shining Reach, the marked ground in the Clearhold terraces, the grove stone at Eldwara. Since the calendar is reckoned by arithmetic and needs no observation, the Swynstoen is now an astronomical and religious instrument rather than a calendrical one — which is how the Academy came to measure, and publish, the seven days by which the civic year has drifted from the sun. Communities that keep the sacred solstice rather than the calendar date take it from the Swynstoen.