Etymology - Astronomy

Question 1

April

Answer 1

re-Latinised from Middle English aueril

Old French avrill

Latin Aprīlis (“of the month of the goddess Venus”)

? Etruscan apru

Ancient Greek - Αφροδίτη (Aphroditē)

Question 2

asterisk

Answer 2

Latin - asteriscus

Ancient Greek - ἀστερίσκος (asteriskos, “a little star”)

Question 3

August

Answer 3

Old English Augustus

Latin augustus (“month of August”) from Augustus (“venerable”) of Caesar Augustus (Octavian), the first Emperor of Rome

Question 4

Autumn

Answer 4

Old French automne

Latin autumnus

? Etruscan root autu-, within it connotations of the passing of the year

Replaced harvest

Question 5

consider

Answer 5

Middle French considerer

Latin considerare (“to consider”)

Possibly ‘to observe the stars’ or from a possible alternative meaning of considerare ‘to focus on the goal’

Question 6

day

Answer 6

Old English dæg

Proto-Germanic *dagaz (“day”)

PIE *dʰegʷʰ- “to burn”

Latin diēs from PIE *dyew- (“to shine”) and ‘date’ from Latin datus, past participle of dare (“to give”) from PIE *deh₃- (“to give”)

Question 7

desire

Answer 7

Old French desirer

Latin desiderare (“to desire”) from de sidere (“from the stars”)

Possibly ‘to await what the stars will bring’ or from a possible alternative meaning of desiderare: ‘to miss the mark’

Question 8

disaster

Answer 8

Middle French desastre

Italian disastro (“ill-starred event”)

Question 9

equinox

Answer 9

Old French equinoce

Latin aequus (“equal”) + nox (“night”)

Replaced Old English efenniht

Question 10

February

Answer 10

Middle English Februarie

Latin Februārius (“month of the Februa”)

Fēbrua (“the Purgings, the Purifications”)

? PIE *dʰewh₂- (“smoke, haze”); or (“to burn”) and thus cognate with fever

Relatinised abandoning Middle English feoverel from Old French feverier

Question 11

Friday

Answer 11

Old English frīgedæg

Proto-West Germanic *Frījā dag

calque of Latin diēs Veneris via an association (interpretātiō germānica) of the goddess Frigg with the Roman goddess of love Venus

Question 12

Galaxy

Answer 12

Old French galaxie

Latin galaxias

Ancient Greek γαλαξίας (galaxias, “Milky Way”)

Ancient Greek γάλα (gála, “milk”)

Question 13

hour

Answer 13

Old French houre

Latin hōra

Ancient Greek ώρα (hōra, “any time period, whether of the year, month, or day”)

PIE *yeh₁- (“year, season”)

Cognate with Old English gēar (“year”)

Displaced native Middle English stunde (“hour, moment, stound”)

Question 14

influenza

Answer 14

Italian influenza

Latin influentia (allusion to how disease was traditionally attributed to the influence of the stars)

Question 15

January

Answer 15

Re-latinised from Middle English Janevere

Anglo-Norman genever

Latin iānuārius (“month of Janus”; Roman deity with two faces and guardian of doorways and gates and protector of state in times of war)

Question 16

jovial

Answer 16

adjective
1. Cheerful and friendly.

French jovial

Italian gioviale (“jolly”)

Latin ioviālis (“born under the influence of the planet Jupiter”)

Iuppiter, Iovis

PIE *dyew- (“to be bright; heaven, sky”)

Question 17

July

Answer 17

Anglo-Norman julie

Latin iūlius (Gaius Julius Caesar’s month)

? Contraction of *Iovilios (“descended from Jove”)

Question 18

June

Answer 18

Old French juin

Latin iūnius (“month of the goddess Iuno”)

? PIE *h₂óyu (“vital force, youthful vigour”)

Question 19

Jupiter

Answer 19

Latin Iūpiter (“father Jove”)

Proto-Italic *djous patēr (“sky father”)

PIE *dyew- (“to be bright, day, sky”) + (“father”)

cognate with Ancient Greek Ζεύ πάτερ (Zeû páter, “father Zeus”)

Question 20

lunatic

Answer 20

Old French lunatique

Latin lunaticus (“moonstruck”)

from belief that changes in the moon caused intermittent insanity

Question 21

March

Answer 21

Anglo-Norman marche

Old French marz

Latin mensis Mārtius (“Mars’ month”)

Question 22

Mars

Answer 22

Latin Mars (“god of war”)

Latin Māvors

Question 23

martial

Answer 23

Middle French martial

Latin mārtiālis (“of or pertaining to the Roman god of war”)

Question 24

May

Answer 24

Old French mai

Latin māius (“month of Maia, a Roman earth goddess”)

Question 25

mercurial

Answer 25

adjective

1. Subject to sudden or unpredictable change of mood or mind;
2. Animated; lively; sprightly; quick-witted.

Middle English mercurial

Latin mercuriālis (“under the astrological influence of the planet Mercury”)

Question 26

Mercury

Answer 26

Middle English Mercurie

Latin Mercurius

? Latin merx (“merchandise”)

Question 27

meteor

Answer 27

noun
1. A small body of matter from outer space that enters the earth’s atmosphere, becoming incandescent as a result of friction.

Middle French météore

Latin meteorum

Ancient Greek μετέωρον (metéōron)

μετέωρος (metéōros, “raised from the ground, hanging, lofty”)

μετά (metá, “in the midst of, among, between”)
άείρω (aeirō, “to lift, to heave”)

Question 28

minute

Answer 28

Old French minute

Latin minūta (60th of an hour, note”)

from pars minuta prima (“first diminished part (of the hour)”)

doublet of menu

Question 29

Monday

Answer 29

Old English mōnandæg (“day of the moon”)

Proto-West Germanic *mānini day

calque (interpretātio germānica) of Latin diēs Lūnae

Question 30

month

Answer 30

Old English mōnaþ (“month”)

Proto-Germanic *mēnōþs

PIE *mḗh₁n̥s (“moon, month”)

Question 31

Moon

Answer 31

Middle English mone

Old English mōna

Proto-West Germanic *mānō

Proto-Germanic *mēnô (“moon”)

PIE *mḗh₁n̥s (“moon, month”)

? PIE *meh₁- (“to measure”).

Question 32

mundane

Answer 32

Old French mondain

Latin mundanus

Latin mundus (“world”)

Question 33

Neptune

Answer 33

Middle English Neptunus

Latin Neptūnus
? PIE *nébʰ-tu-s (“damp, cloudy”) (source of Ancient Greek νέφος (néphos), Sanskrit नभस् (nábhas), etc.), with the sense of “wet, moist.”

Question 34

Uranus

Answer 34

noun
1. a personification of heaven or the sky, the most ancient of the Greek gods and first ruler of the universe. He was overthrown and castrated by his son Cronus.

Latin Ūranus

Ancient Greek Οὐρανός (Ouranós)

οὐρανός (ouranós, “sky, heaven”)

Question 35

Pluto

Answer 35

Ancient Greek Πλούτων (Ploútōn, “god of the underworld”)

Question 36

Saturday

Answer 36

Old English sæterdæg, earlier sæternesdæġ (“day of Saturn”)

Proto-West Germanic *Sāturnas dag; calque (interpretātiō germānica) of Latin diēs Saturnī

Question 37

Saturn

Answer 37

noun
1. Roman god, regarded as a god of agriculture. Greek equivalent Cronus.

Old English Sætern

Latin Sāturnus

probably from Etruscan 𐌔𐌀𐌕𐌓𐌄 (satre), plausibly influenced by Latin satus, past participle of serere (“to sow”)

Question 38

saturnine

SAT-er-nahyn

Answer 38

adjective

1. (of a person and their manner) gloomy: a saturnine temperament;
2. (of a person or their features) dark in colouring and moody or mysterious: his saturnine face and dark, watchful eyes;
3. (of a place or an occasion) gloomy: a saturnine setting.

Middle English (as a term in astrology)

Old French saturnin

Latin Saturninus ‘of Saturn’ (identified with lead by the alchemists and associated with slowness and gloom by astrologers)

Question 39

season

Answer 39

Middle English seson (“time of the year”)

Old French seson, saison (“time of sowing, seeding”)

Latin satiō (“act of sowing, planting”) from satum, past participle of serō (“to sow, plant”)

PIE *seh₁- (“to sow, plant”)

akin to Old English sāwan (“to sow”), sǣd (“seed”)

displaced native Middle English sele (“season”)

Question 40

second

Answer 40

Old French seconde

Medieval Latin secunda

short for pars minuta secunda (“second diminished part (of the hour)”)

Question 41

sidereal

sahy-DEE-ree-uhl

Answer 41

adjective
1. of or with respect to the distant stars (i.e. the constellations or fixed stars, not the sun or planets).

Latin sīdereus

sīdus (“star”)

Question 42

solstice

Answer 42

noun
1. either of the two times in the year, the summer solstice and the winter solstice, when the sun reaches its highest or lowest point in the sky at noon, marked by the longest and shortest days.

Old French solstice

Latin sōlstitium

sōl (“sun”) + sistō (“stand still”, verb)

Question 43

spring

Answer 43

Old English spring (“wellspring, ulcer”)

Old English spryng (“a jump”)

from ablaut forms of the Proto-Germanic verb *springaną (“to burst forth”)

PIE root reconstructed *sperǵʰ-.

Its sense as the season, first attested in a work predating 1325, gradually replaced Old English lencten (“spring, Lent”) as that word became more specifically liturgical

Question 44

Sun

Answer 44

Old English sunne

Proto-West Germanic *sunnā

Proto-Germanic *sunnǭ

heteroclitic inanimate PIE *sh₂wen-, oblique of *sóh₂wl̥ (“sun”)

root shared by Greek ἥλιος (hēlios) and Latin sol

Question 45

summer

Answer 45

Old English sumor (“summer”)

Proto-Germanic *sumaraz (“summer”)

PIE *sm̥-h₂-ó-, oblique of *semh₂- (“summer, year”)

Question 46

Sunday

Answer 46

Old English sunnandæġ (“day of the sun”)

sunne (“sun”), + dæġ (“day”)

Proto-West Germanic *sunnōn dag, as a translation (interpretātiō germānica) of Latin diēs Sōlis

declared the “venerable day of the sun” by Roman Emperor Constantine in 321 C.E.

Question 47

terrestrial

Answer 47

borrowed from Latin terrestris

terra (“land, earth, ground”)

Question 48

Thursday

Answer 48

Old English þursdæġ (“Thursday”)

likely of North Germanic origin, from Old Norse þōrsdagr or Old Danish þūrsdag (“Thursday”)

Proto-West Germanic *Þunras dag (“day of the thunder god”)

calque of Latin diēs Iovis (diēs Jovis), via an association (interpretātiō germānica) of the god Thor with the Roman god of thunder Jove (Jupiter)

Question 49

Universe

Answer 49

noun
1. all existing matter and space considered as a whole, believed to be at least 10 billion light years in diameter; the cosmos.

Old French univers

Latin universum (“all things, as a whole, the universe”)

neuter of universus (“all together, whole, entire, collective, general, literally turned or combined into one”)

uni-, combining form of unus (“one”) + versus (“turned”), perfect passive participle of vertō (“to turn”)

Question 50

venereal

vuh-NEER-ee-uhl

Answer 50

adjective

1. relating to sexual desire (lustful) or sexual intercourse: the venereal act;
2. relating to venereal disease.

Middle English venereal (“of or relating to sexual intercourse”)

Latin venereus, (“of or relating to sexual love”)

Venus (“Roman goddess of love”)

PIE *wenh₁- (“to love”)

Question 51

Venus

Answer 51

noun
1. a goddess, worshipped as the goddess of beauty, love, fertility and sexual intercourse in classical Rome though apparently a spirit of kitchen gardens in earlier times. Greek equivalent Aphrodite.

Latin Venus (“love, charm”)

Proto-Italic *wenos- (“desire”)

Proto-Indo-European *wenh₁-os (“desire”)

Question 52

Wednesday

Answer 52

Old English wōdnesdæġ (“Wednesday”)

Proto-West Germanic *Wōdanas dag

calque (interpretātiō germānica) of Latin diēs Mercuriī (“day of Mercury”) and Koine Ancient Greek ἡμέρα (hēméra, “day”) Ἑρμοῦ (Hermoû, “of Hermes”), via an association of the god Odin (Woden, the supreme god and creator, god of victory and the dead) with Mercury and Hermes.

Question 53

winter

Answer 53

Old English winter

Proto-Germanic *wintruz (“winter”)

Question 54

year

Answer 54

Old English ġēar (“year”)

Proto-West Germanic *jār

Proto-Germanic *jērą (“year”)

PIE *yóh₁r̥ (“year, spring”)