azimuth (n.)

"arc marking the distance of a star from the north or south point of the meridian," late 14c., from Old French azimut, from Arabic as-sumut "the ways," plural of as-samt "the way, direction" (see zenith). Related: Azimuthal.

also from late 14c.

Entries linking to azimuth

zenith (n.)

"point of the heavens directly overhead at any place," late 14c., from Old French cenith (Modern French zénith), from Medieval Latin cenit, senit, bungled scribal transliterations of Arabic samt "road, path," abbreviation of samt ar-ras, literally "the way over the head." Letter -m- misread as -ni-.

The Medieval Latin word could as well be influenced by the rough agreement of the Arabic term with classical Latin semita "sidetrack, side path" (notion of "thing going off to the side"), from se- "apart" + *mi-ta-, a suffixed form of PIE root *mei- (1) "to change, go, move." Figurative sense of "highest point or state" is from c. 1600.

*mei- (1)

Proto-Indo-European root meaning "to change, go, move," "with derivatives referring to the exchange of goods and services within a society as regulated by custom or law" [Watkins].

It forms all or part of: amiss; amoeba; azimuth; common; commune; communicate; communication; communism; commute; congee; demean; emigrate; emigration; excommunicate; excommunication; immune; immutable; incommunicado; mad; mean (adj.1) "low-quality;" mew (n.2) "cage;" mews; migrate; migration; mis- (1) "bad, wrong;" mistake; Mithras; molt; Mstislav; municipal; munificent; mutable; mutant; mutate; mutation; mutatis mutandis; mutual; permeable; permeate; permutation; permute; remunerate; remuneration; transmutation; transmute; zenith.

It is the hypothetical source of/evidence for its existence is provided by: Sanskrit methati "changes, alternates, joins, meets;" Avestan mitho "perverted, false;" Hittite mutai- "be changed into;" Latin mutare "to change," meare "to go, pass," migrare "to move from one place to another," mutuus "done in exchange;" Old Church Slavonic mite "alternately;" Czech mijim "to go by, pass by," Polish mijać "avoid;" Gothic maidjan "to change."

Trends of azimuth

adapted from books.google.com/ngrams/. Ngrams are probably unreliable.

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glean

early 14c., "to gather by acquisition, scrape together," especially grains left in the field after harvesting, but the earliest use in English is figurative, from Old French glener "to glean" (14c., Modern French glaner) "to glean," from Late Latin glennare "make a collection," o

angel

"one of a class of spiritual beings, attendants and messengers of God," a c. 1300 fusion of Old English engel (with hard -g-) and Old French angele. Both are from Late Latin angelus, from Greek angelos, literally "messenger, envoy, one that announces," in the New Testament "divin

angle

"to fish with a hook," mid-15c., from Old English angel (n.) "angle, hook, fish-hook," related to anga "hook," from Proto-Germanic *angul-, from PIE *ankulo-, suffixed form of root *ang-/*ank- "to bend" (see angle (n.)). Compare Old English angul, Old Norse öngull, Old High Germa

coordinate

1640s, "of the same order, belonging to the same rank or degree," from Medieval Latin coordinatus, past participle of coordinare "to set in order, arrange," from assimilated form of com "with, together" (see com-) + ordinatio "arrangement," from ordo "row, rank, series, arrangeme

liberty

late 14c., "free choice, freedom to do as one chooses," also "freedom from the bondage of sin," from Old French liberte "freedom, liberty, free will" (14c., Modern French liberté), from Latin libertatem (nominative libertas) "civil or political freedom, condition of a free man; a

coincidence

c. 1600, "exact correspondence in substance or nature," from French coincidence, from coincider, from Medieval Latin coincidere, literally "to fall upon together," from assimilated form of Latin com "with, together" (see com-) + incidere "to fall upon" (from in- "upon" + co

energy

1590s, "force of expression," from French énergie (16c.), from Late Latin energia, from Greek energeia "activity, action, operation," from energos "active, working," from en "at" (see en- (2)) + -ergos "that works," from ergon "work, that which is wrought; business; action" (from

brown-nose

also brownnose, "try excessively to make a good impression on one with authority," 1939, American English colloquial, said to be military slang originally, from brown (adj.) + nose (n.), "from the implication that servility is tantamount to having one's nose in the anus of the pe

delta

c. 1200, name of the fourth letter of the Greek alphabet (equivalent to our D), which was shaped like a triangle. The name is from Phoenician daleth "tent door." Sense of "triangular island or alluvial tract between the diverging branches of the mouth of a great river" is because

contrast

1690s, "to set in opposition with a view to show the differences; to stand in opposition or contrast; to set off (each other) by contrast," from French contraster (Old French contrester), modified by or from Italian contrastare "stand out against, strive, contend," from Vulgar La

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updated on September 28, 2017

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