Indexing mechanisms...?

[Nick Pelling <incoming@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hi everyone,

Today's TDJ (theory du jour): if the ot- / ok- labels are followed by 
indices or references of some sort, their underlying indexing mechanism(s) 
is likely to have much in common with pre-existing astrological indexing 
mechanisms.

A strong candidate - given the nymphs - would be Ptolemy's Handy Tables 
etc. Does anyone know how the indexing/referencing system(s) in that work(s)?

Also: given the analogy between 30 stars per sign and the Egyptian 30 
degrees per sign, part of the indexing mechanism could be - rather than a 
number - a (possibly abbreviated?) name of the degree. IIRC, some esoteric 
astrology systems have a name (or an evocative image) for each degree in 
each sign, so this is certainly possible.

ie: otalal = "Sun in Aries 24 degrees" (say) would indicate the appropriate 
one of 360 phrases (or tables) to refer to / use.

Cheers, .....Nick Pelling.....