Words Words Words

[SilverAstro]

20 hours ago, Macavity said:

Not sure of relavance here, but made my *inner schoolboy* chuckle:
http://mentalfloss.com/article/59544/11-naughty-sounding-scientific-names-and-what-they-really-mean

Nice find, much chuckling 

Sadly the Wattled Crane is no longer in that genus

[impactcrater]

comet is interesting...it comes from the Greek 'kometes' meaning 'long-haired'.....who would have thought ?

[SilverAstro]

and Coma Berenices, Hair of Queen Berenices

usually attributed to a latin origin, but refers to the hair of a queen of one of the Ptolemaic (Helenistic/Greek) dynastic rulers of Egypt, Cleopatra being the last of that clan after a few Romans got in on the game.

addendum : Oh, haha,  it may be that Ptolemy ( there were many of that name) - Claudius, the polymath, astronomer, (and author of the geocentric epicycles planetary monster theory)  classified that asterism as the hairy tuft on the tail of Leo the lion ! Not until a bit later did 'Her Hair' become a constellation, perhaps due to the efforts of Tycho Brahe in his 1602 catalogue.

[coatesg]

Helium was named after Helios, the Greek mythological personification of the Sun. Helium was first discovered as an unknown yellow spectral line visible during a total eclipse (Janssen) and an absorption line (Lockyer) though it took some time for it to be isolated on Earth.

Everything "helio" has a similar derivation (heliostat, helioscope, heliopause, etc)

[Cyclops]

Slightly OT but etymology related...Daisy comes from Day's Eye because the flowers open during the day...and Dandelion comes from the French Dent de lyon, in reference to the leaves which have teeth

[impactcrater]

and what a good word 'syzygy' is...some sort of Polish salad....no. Greek salad for syn / together and zygon/a yoke....

[Demonperformer]

6 hours ago, impactcrater said:

and what a good word 'syzygy' is...some sort of Polish salad....no. Greek salad for syn / together and zygon/a yoke....

Useless fact (I'm full of them) .... it is also the longest word in the English language that does not contain any of the five vowels (go on, prove me wrong)

[michaelmorris]

A few lesser known vaguely astronomy related definitions that may amuse you

*Exorbitant : The now retired first insect astronaut.

*Bacchanalian : To bet on a Martian

Binary : Pertaining to a waste paper basket

Aurora : Alternatively it could be a lion

Bolide : A dishonest medieval weapon

Eclipse : Electronic fasteners

Gibbous : A bit like one of the Beegees

(*care of Uxbridge English Dictionary)

 

I'll get my coat ...

[michaelmorris]

Ionosphere : Neil Armstrong's first words from the Moon

[michaelmorris]

Planet : To make a plan

[impactcrater]

14 hours ago, Demonperformer said:

Useless fact (I'm full of them) .... it is also the longest word in the English language that does not contain any of the five vowels (go on, prove me wrong)

'the syzygies that I saw were momentarily locked in celestial rhythms '

[LukeSkywatcher]

14 hours ago, Demonperformer said:

Useless fact (I'm full of them) .... it is also the longest word in the English language that does not contain any of the five vowels (go on, prove me wrong)

An English word without vowels?, You sure you mean English and not Welsh?

im gonna Google that one.

BRB............

[LukeSkywatcher]

Just done a Google. 

The answer isnt as exciting as you think. Its only 7 letters long.

The Gaelic language only contains 18 letters:

a, b, c, d, e, f, g, h, i, l, m, n, o, p, r, s, t, u

 

[LukeSkywatcher]

All the vowels can have a "fada" above them.............a or á, e or é, i or í, o or ó, and u or ú. 

 

 

[Demonperformer]

9 hours ago, LukeSkywatcher said:

An English word without vowels?

In English, 'y' can act like a vowel, so yes. There are quite a lot of them actually. Like 'sky' ...

 

9 hours ago, LukeSkywatcher said:

Its only 7 letters long.

Not quite sure which word you mean is 7 letters long ... syzygy is only 6 letters long ...