Zedler’s Universallexikon (1743) offers only biblical quotations on the subject of “quickness” (Schnelligkeit) – a value in itself in opposition to “slowness” since the late modern period in such areas as working life, communications, or sport. The article on “speed” (Geschwindigkeit; 1735), meanwhile, was written by a physicist who defined his subject by means of the formula v= s/t, citing the example of the motion of two messengers, one of whom covered one (German) mil…