I. Name

Stoicheia tou kosmou has several meanings. From the root stich-, meaning row or rank, the singular stoicheion designates the shadow cast by the pole of a sundial, a letter of the alphabet, the sound the human voice makes as a basic element of language, and an element as the fundamental constituent of an object or entity. Most likely derived from stoichos, the row or line in which soldiers stand, the plural with the addition ‘of the world’, stoicheia tou kosmou means the basic components of the world. T…