AEQUINOCTIUM or the equinox, is the time in which days and nights are equal in the space of hours. There are two equinoxes: the spring equinox--c. 8 calends of April in the sign of Aries; and the fall equinox--c. 10 calends of October in the sign of Libra.
AERAS is derived from _aera_, _aerae_, which originally meant a given number, usually used in regard to money. The word was later extended to mean a number used in any calculation, and finally it came to mean a certain time from which subsequent times were counted, e.g., _Anno Domini_, after the Birth of Christ.
COLURI or the Colures, which are two circles in the heavenly sphere, passing through the poles of the world and cutting each other at right angles: the one passes through the equinoctial points of Aries and Libra and is called _Colurus Aequinoctiorum_ or equinoctial colure; the other touches the _solstitialia_ of Cancer and Capricorn and is called _Colurus Solstitiorum_ or solstitial colure. They are called _Colurus_, which is translated as "mutilated tails," for the part which emerges in the Antarctic is not visible and is quasitruncated.
ECLIPTICA or the ecliptic, is an imaginary line in the heavens in which the sun was supposed to have performed its annual course.
EPICYCLUS or epicycle, is a small orb which, being fixed in the deferent of a planet, is carried along with its motion and yet, with its own peculiar motion, carries the body of the planet fastened to it round about its proper center.
IRIS or the rainbow. In mythology, Iris was the daughter of Thaumatis and Electra, messenger of Juno of the goddesses and Jove of the gods.
SOLSTITIUM or the solstice, is that time when the sun seems to stand still for a short time: when the sign of Cancer enters the month of June (equivalent to the summer solstice, when the sun begins to recede from us); and when the sign of Capricorn enters the month of December (equivalent to the winter solstice, when the sun begins to accede to us).
There is a break in the story of Borghesi and Bertolla for the next five years. The second clock may have been the last project on which the priest and the clockmaker worked together, for very good reasons. The two clocks must have represented a considerable financial investment in materials and in time, and neither of the men was in sufficiently affluent circumstances to undertake the luxury of such a hobby without some form of recompense. The publication of the two little volumes must have also been done at Father Borghesi's expense. The income of the parish priest in a small mountain village could not have been equal to the relatively great costs of the projects that had been completed. It seems probable that the priest attempted to sell his clocks to a wealthy patron, perhaps the Baron of Cles, or he may have attempted to obtain some form of recompense for the continuation of his research. However, no records can be found of such patronage if it existed. If Borghesi had received financial assistance while the projects were in progress, he would certainly have made adequate mention of the patron's name and assistance in one or the other of the two volumes which he published.[17]