Philologist Daniel Hook discovered an error in the translation of Newton's first law.
The error occurred due to a misinterpretation of the Latin text when translating it into English.
Newton's first law of inertia states that a body remains at rest or moves uniformly unless acted upon by an external force, the journal Philosophy of Science reports.
Hook, while researching Newton's original Latin texts, discovered that the conjunction "if" had been mistranslated.
In the Latin text, Newton used a term that more accurately translates as "because."
The philologist's discovery significantly changes the meaning of the law.
According to the new interpretation, Newton's law states that bodies remain at rest or in motion precisely because of the absence of an external force.
Consequently, rest and movement do not occur conditionally, but naturally in the absence of influence.
This approach indicates that it is not external conditions that create inertia, but the very nature of the body in the absence of force.
