- horizon
- late 14c., from O.Fr. orizon (14c.), earlier orizonte (13c.), from L. horizontem (nom. horizon), from Gk. horizon kyklos "bounding circle," from horizein "bound, limit, divide, separate," from horos "boundary." The h- was restored 17c. in imitation of Latin. Horizontal (1550s) originally meant "relating to or near the horizon," later (1638) parallel to it, "flat."
- Shangri La
- "imaginary earthly paradise," 1938, from Shangri La, name of Tibetan utopia in James Hilton's novel "Lost Horizon" (1933). In Tibetan, la means "mountain pass."
- Canopus
- bright southern star, 1555, from Gk. kanobos, perhaps from Egyptian Kahi Nub "golden earth." The association with "weight" found in the name of the star in some northern tongues may reflect the fact that it never rises far above the horizon in those latitudes. Also the name of a town in ancient Egypt, hence canpoic jar, which often held the entrails of embalmed bodies.
- Camp David
- U.S. presidential retreat near Thurmont, Maryland, built 1939 as Hi-Catoctin, in ref. to the name of the mountains around it; called Shangri-La by F.D. Roosevelt, after the mythical hard-to-get-to land in the novel "Lost Horizon;" named Camp David by Eisenhower in 1953 for his grandson, born 1947. The Camp David Accords were signed there Sept. 17, 1978.
- Anatolia
- ancient name of Asia Minor, from M.L. Anatolia, from Gk. anatole "the east," originally "sunrise" (which of course happens in the east), lit. "a rising above (the horizon)," from anatellein "to rise," from ana "up" + tellein "to accomplish, perform."
- cape (2)
- "promontory," late 14c., from M.Fr. cap, from L. caput "headland, head" (see head). The Cape of Good Hope in southern Africa has been the Cape since 1667. Cape Cod, in reference to houses reminiscent of New England architecture, is 1916. Sailors called low cloud banks that could be mistaken for landforms on the horizon Cape fly-away (1769).
- event
- 1570s, from M.Fr. event, from L. eventus "occurrence, issue," from evenire "to come out, happen, result," from ex- "out" + venire "to come" (see venue). Event horizon in astrophysics is from 1969.