THE BUILDER September 1919
THE OBLONG SQUARE

The many and various statements appearing in THE BUILDER from time
to time on the subject of the "Oblong Square," as well as the
variety of the opinions expressed, lead me to think that the
subject is one of general interest and that a few additional words
may not be out of place. I must take issue with the statement of
Brother Charles H. Fisk of Kentucky in the July issue of THE
BUILDER. He says the proper wording, geometrically and
scientifically correct, is "the angle of an oblong." This
expression is more objectionable than the one it seeks to replace.
It implies that an oblong has only one angle and it does not have
the sanction of usage as does the term which he criticizes. Then
too the great English mathematician, Todhunter, says the word
"oblong" is not now used in Geometry, and that the word "rectangle"
has taken its place. Therefore if we must bring our terminology
down to present day usage and change with every breath that blows,
to be "geometrically and scientifically correct" we should say "an
angle of a rectangle." A rectangle has four right angles, and the
step of the Apprentice and that of the Fellow Craft each form one
of these angles.

Brother Fisk says, "A square is a square, an oblong is an oblong;
each has angles and all of them right angles, but there never has
been known an oblong square or a square oblong." If there were no
other definition of oblong but the restricted one of a right-angled
figure, longer in one direction than the other, and no definition
of a square but that of a figure with four sides all equal and all
its angles right angles, no one would take issue with this
statement, but this is not the ease, and if Brother Fisk holds
that, Masonically or otherwise, the term "oblong square" never had
a legitimate meaning, he is certainly far from the right track. We
find the expression in the earliest rituals of Masonry and
continued down to the present day. We also find it in well
recognized literature of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.
An expression so commonly used must have had a well understood
meaning to those who so used it and we have no right to assume that
they were ignorant of the proper use of the words they used. The
very fact that they so used it is evidence that such use was
proper, and it should be our purpose to ascertain the meaning of
the term as so used.

To the man who says that a horse is a four-footed animal and a saw
is an instrument for cutting and who refuses to recognize any other
definition, it is useless to try to explain the meaning of the word
"saw-horse." He will probably say that "a saw is a saw and a horse
is a horse, but there has never been known a saw-horse or a horse-
saw."

What are the facts ? we find the term "oblong square" actually used
by recognized Masonic authorities and in literature, and this fact
demands an explanation and justifies an attempt to ascertain what
was meant by the term. It is found more than once in the literature
of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. One illustration,
easily accessible to the general reader is found in Sir Walter
Scott's Ivanhoe, second or third pages of chapter seven (according
to the edition consulted). He describes the court enclosed for the
tournament as "forming a space of a quarter of a mile in length and
about half as broad. The form of the enclosure was an oblong
square." Sir Walter Scott used the term here to describe a field
whose length w as twice the breadth. Unless the expression had a
definite, well understood meaning at that time it is not likely
that he would have so used it.

In Masonry it is frequently found in the old rituals and the early
Masonic writers recognize it as a term well understood in the same
sense that it is used by Sir Walter Scott quoted above.

Note the following quotations from rituals of the eighteenth
century. Here is one dated 1730: "The form of a lodge is a long
square." This would imply that the word "square" at that time did
not necessarily mean "having equal sides." Slight differences in
the wording of the ritual caused some sharp disputes between the
Ancients and Moderns of this period, but they both agree in giving
the form of a lodge as an "oblong square." (Rituals of 1740, 1760
and 1767 have been consulted on this point.) The old rituals also
describe the drawing of "the lodge" on the floor of the room where
the communication was held. This drawing was done with chalk,
charcoal or clay, and after the degree was conferred the newly
admitted brother was required to wash it out and mop it up. The
drawing is always described as an "oblong square." It had three
steps at the west end, the first called the Entered Apprentice
step, the second the Fellow Craft step and the third the Master's
step. Each was called the step of an oblong square. The candidate
was taught to approach the East on the first, second or third step
of an "oblong square" according to the degree which he was
receiving.

In the April BUILDER for 1916, I advanced the opinion that at one
time the word "square" meant "right-angled" and the term "a square"
referred to a four-sided figure having foul right angles, without
regard to the proportionate length of adjacent sides. This being so
it would be necessary to distinguish between a square having equal
sides and one whose sides were greater than its breadth; hence the
introduction of the prefixes "oblong" and "perfect." This is merely
an opinion and I give it for what it is worth. In support of it I
again call attention to the references given above. It is also
supported by Jonson's Dictionary, published in 1765, in which the
leading definition of a square is "having right angles" and he
gives a quotation in which a rectangle is referred to as a
"square." Take the following quotation from the King James version
of the Bible: "All the doors and posts were square with the
windows" (I Kings, 7:5). The word "square" here evidently means
rectangular. (I use the word "rectangular" in the modern sense of
having four right angles and longer in one direction than the
other. The original meaning of rectangle was "having one or more
right angles.")


Perhaps the derivation of the words we are considering will help us
to arrive at their meaning. The word "oblong" is from "ob" meaning
"before" or "facing," and "longus," meaning "long," and the
original meaning of the word "oblong" was "longer than broad" and
had no reference to right angles. This is still the principle
definition given in the dictionary. Another definition still found
in the modern dictionary is "elliptical." Neither of these
definitions imply a right angle. The term "oblong," though now used
to define what is commonly called a rectangle, is also frequently
used to define a symmetrical figure having one principal axis
longer than the others as the leaf of a tree.

The word "square" is from the Latin "ex" meaning "from" or "out
of," and "quadrus," meaning "one fourth part." The original meaning
of "square" was "the fourth part of a circle," as it is even now
used in Masonry, or, as it is sometimes stated, "an angle of ninety
degrees." Thus the word "square" would mean as Jonson defines it,
"having right angles." That the word is still used in that sense,
note the following definitions found in a modern unabridged
dictionary: 1. A quadrilateral space marked out on a board, paper
or the like. 2. A pane of glass. 3. The part of a book cover that
projects beyond the edges. 4. A quadrilateral area bounded by
streets. 5. An open place or area formed by the meeting of streets.
6. A park. None of these definitions necessarily imply a figure
having equal sides. In fact most of these so-called squares do not
have equal sides. A pane of glass called a square is usually
oblong, though occasionally it is a perfect square in shape. Thus
it would be perfectly proper to say of one square of glass that it
is an oblong square, and of another that it is a perfect square.
The squares of our cities are usually oblong Since they are longer
in one direction than another. Still they are called squares, and
it is perfectly proper to say "Madison is an oblong square, but
Greene's is a perfect square." The intersection of streets are
called squares, but occasionally one of the streets so intersecting
is narrower than the other, thus making the square formed by the
intersection an oblong one.

From the foregoing definitions and from the derivation of both
words it would seem that these two words originally had other
meanings than the ones now commonly given to them; but even if the
principle meanings were unchanged, it is a fact that there have
been and still are other meanings which justify the term "oblong
square." It is usage that determines the meaning of words, and
Masons, as part of their vocabulary, have used and still use the
term "oblong square." Trades and other organizations frequently
make use of a term in a sense peculiar to that trade or
organization and different from the commonly accepted definition of
the term. Therefore even if the term "oblong square" had no other
Sanction than Masonic usage, it would be perfectly proper for
Masons to use it in their own way as a Masonic term. We have many
terms used in a sense peculiar to Masonry, such as "hele," "eable-
tow," Cowan." To my mind the retention of these old terms in our
ritual is a proof of the antiquity of the order and illustrates how
knowledge is preserved from generation in our ceremonies.

C. C. Hunt, Iowa
