Classical element to use the term "element (στοιχεῖον, "stoicheion")" in reference to air, fire, earth, and water. The ancient Greek word for element, "stoicheion" (from "stoicheo", "to line up") meant "smallest division (of a sun-dial), a syllable", as the composing unit of an alphabet it could denote a letter and the smallest unit from which a word is formed. A similar alphabetic metaphor may be the origin of the equivalent Latin word "elementum" (from which the English word comes), possibly based on the names of the letters 'l', 'm', and 'n', though the validity of this idea is debated. In his "On
Archaic globalization cultural backgrounds could meet and interact. These trading routes were the communication highways for the ancient civilizations and their societies. New inventions, religious beliefs, artistic styles, languages, and social customs, as well as goods and raw materials, were transmitted by people moving from one place to another to conduct business. Proto-globalization is the period following archaic globalization which occurred from the 17th through the 19th centuries. The global routes established within the period of archaic globalization gave way to more distinguished expanding routes and more complex systems of trade within the period of proto-globalization. Familiar trading arrangements such as the