quword 趣词
Word Origins Dictionary
- galactic (adj.)[galactic 词源字典]
- 1839, "of the Milky Way, of the bright band of stars around the night sky," from Late Latin galacticus, from galaxias (see galaxy). In modern scientific sense "pertaining to (our) galaxy," from 1849. From 1844 as "of or pertaining to milk."[galactic etymology, galactic origin, 英语词源]
- galaxy (n.)
- late 14c., from French galaxie or directly from Late Latin galaxias "the Milky Way" as a feature in the night sky (in classical Latin via lactea or circulus lacteus)from Greek galaxias (adj.), in galaxias kyklos, literally "milky circle," from gala (genitive galaktos) "milk" (see lactation). The technical astronomical sense in reference to the discrete stellar aggregate including the sun and all visible stars emerged by 1848. Figurative sense of "brilliant assembly of persons" is from 1580s. Milky Way is a translation of Latin via lactea.
See yonder, lo, the Galaxyë Which men clepeth the Milky Wey, For hit is whyt. [Chaucer, "House of Fame"]
Originally ours was the only one known. Astronomers began to speculate by mid-19c. that some of the spiral nebulae they could see in telescopes were actually immense and immensely distant structures the size and shape of the Milky Way. But the matter was not settled in the affirmative until the 1920s. - Aquila
- "A small northern constellation (the Eagle), said to represent the eagle that carried Ganymede to Olympus. It contains the bright star Altair, and some rich star fields of the Milky Way", Latin.
- Carina (2)
- "A southern constellation (the Keel) partly in the Milky Way, originally part of Argo. It contains the second-brightest star in the sky, Canopus", Latin.
- Vela
- "A southern constellation (the Sails), lying partly in the Milky Way between Carina and Pyxis and originally part of Argo", Latin, plural of velum 'sail'.