1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Minute

MINUTE (Lat. minutus, small; minuere, to make less), an adjective meaning of very small size, petty or trifling; also extremely precise. In this sense the word is pronounced mī-nūte. As a substantive and pronounced minnit the word (usually in the plural) is applied to a written summary of the transactions of a meeting of a public or other body, or to a memorandum of instructions, &c. A Treasury minute in the United Kingdom is an official memorandum authorizing certain procedure. “To minute” is to draw up such a summary or memorandum. More particularly, “minute” is used of the sixtieth part of any unit); in time, of an hour; and in astronomy, geometry, geography, &c., of a degree in the measurement of a circle. The sexagesimal system of division was originally used by the ancient Babylonian astronomers, was adopted by Ptolemy; and the sixtieth part of a degree, and its further subdivision into sixty parts, was called in Latin pars minutae primae, and pars minutae secundae respectively, hence the English “minute” and “second.”