History: date/time bridi

What we need is not more ways to try to make collections of digits into a date, but something which actually refers to the date, no matter what context it's in, using the places of a bridi.

The result will be longer, but will create things which are unquestionably dates and which have clearly-specified places, instead of assuming that any number which fills a "date" place is some sort of date.

I'll use a fu'ivla, because no seljvajvo lujvo could possibly have this place structure without being entirely unwieldy. I'll base it on tcika and detri, though.

dreika: x1 is the interval of time in year x1, month x2, day x3, hour x4, minute x5, and second x6 by calendar x7

(In alternate calendars, change "month" to whatever is an appropriate intermediate interval between years and days.)

So here are some examples:

le dreika be li 2001

the year 2001

le dreika befi li 27

the 27th

le dreika be li 2001 bei li 9 bei li 22 bei li 17 bei li 18

September 22, 2001, at 5:18 PM (note that bei li has the same number of syllables as pi'e, so the length isn't that bad)

calenu dreika li 2001 li 9 li 22 li 17 li 18

on September 22, 2001 at 5:18 PM

rab.spir

How do you express the seconds and the calendar in le dreika befo li 17 beifu li 25 ...? - Oh, le dreika befo li 17 bei li 25 bei li 13 bei...

But just seconds and calendar?

You can add a subscript to se and fa.

Right. For an example, (I'm starting to like detytcika better) {ti detytcika li 3167 faxize la diskordian.} There are other brivla which have more than 5 places - jutsi does, not to mention various seljvajvo lujvo.

I can see myself preferring "ci'e" to "faxize" in real usage. --xod

And what do you do for those who dislike type 4 fu'ivla? A non-seljvajvo lujvo is probably better than the creation (as opposed to the evolution of) a type 4 fu'ivla. And it's embarrassing to have to import a word for the idea of "timestamp".

• If you prefer: detytcika.It is embarrassing that a word like this doesn't exist already, yes. The gismu list suggests that dates and times could be expressed by "unit values massified with joi"; unfortunately, there are no Lojban units for a position in time, only duration. That is what I hope to provide with this brivla (and, to address the complaint below, I'm describing the use of this brivla in a bridi).

I use the names of months with the place structure "x1 is (e.g.) December of year x2". It's not a jvajvo, but it makes it possible to say a date verbosely. --phma

Also, shouldn't this be Date/Time bridi valsi or Date/Time brivla? It isn't usually a whole bridi.