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Just by chance I sometimes come across a word that in nothing betrayed me it's meaning. Most of the time I have a guess in some direction, even if it proves to be the wrong one.
This one caught my eye on a random dictionary page ;
sidereal
1634, "of or pertaining to the stars," earlier sideral (1594), from Fr. sidereal (16c.), from L. sidereus "starry, astral," from sidus (gen. sideris) "star, constellation," probably from PIE base *sweid- "to shine" (cf. Lith. svidus "shining, bright").
I didn't see the starry or astral connection in any way. It looked like sidderaal, which in fact means 'electric eel'. but I knew that was nonsense. Surprised to see what it really means.
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Yeah. In English we don't usually use that sidus element productively either. Mehbe tsuwm can come up with some words we've all known and loved that fit the bill.
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siderealI've only run across this word in scattered works of science fiction and astrological texts. And, of course, I once dreamed that I wrote a book called Sidereus Nuncius ( link). It was about the beneficial effect that txting was having on the English language.
Ceci n'est pas un seing.
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> sidereal when I took an astronomy class in college, this was a common word. especially as Sidereal Time
formerly known as etaoin...
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You made it to Nuncle at least. I've read Galileo's Daughter some years ago. Even for non scientifics like me a captivating book.
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sidderaal
Thanks for that word, Bran. It took me through a couple or three dictionaries in fine fettle. Dutch sidderaal 'electric eel' related to sidderen 'to tremble, shake, quake'; cf. German zittern, Zitterfisch 'electric eel', English (dialectal) titter 'to shake, falter', teeter (as in teeter-totter, i.e., see-saw). English shudder is perhaps from a different Dutch verb schudden (cf. German schütteln). Something reduplicative and onomatopoeic is going on here: shiver, quiver, tremble, teeter, toddle, toodle-oo, etc.
[Added some more info from Bran.]
Last edited by zmjezhd; 04/13/09 07:42 PM.
Ceci n'est pas un seing.
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"Dim and wonderful is the vision I have conjured up in my mind of life spreading slowly from this little seed-bed of the solar system throughout the inanimate vastness of sidereal space. But that is a remote dream."
— H. G. Wells, War of the Worlds
___
sider(o)- combining form (from Gk sideros) iron (cf. siderism, siderite)
sidero- combining form (from L. sidus) star (cf. sidereal, sideromancy, siderostat)
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English shudder is perhaps from a different Dutch verb (German schütteln) The Dutch one is schudden. "Dim and wonderful is the vision I have conjured up in my mind of life spreading slowly from That's a wonderful Wells quote.
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