JF Ptak Science Books Quick Post 
I’ve been posting on some unusual words this month, first in the UN- words found in Joyce’s Ulysses, then another set of UN-s from Webster’s dictionary of 1828. There were very many pleasant surprises in those lists, though most of what I was taking away as good clean entertainment really wasn’t the original intention, for the most part (especially so far as Mr. Webster is concerned). Today’s entry in the Kingdom of Words is a lovely creation in German, something I found (for myself) today in a paper by the physicist Wilhelm Weber, printed in 1861.
The word is Maasssysteme, the only word I think I’ve ever come across with three S’s in a row, and those following two A’s in succession. It seems as though there is a dim memory for examples of aass in Dutch, and maybe also in English, but I can’t pull them out of the memory right now. For now, we’ll just enjoy Maasssysteme.