- zone
- 1390, from L. zona "geographical belt, celestial zone," from Gk. zone "a belt," related to zonnynai "to gird," from PIE base *yes- "to gird, girdle" (cf. Avestan yasta- "girt," Lith. juosiu "to gird," O.C.S. po-jasu "girdle"). Originally one of the five great divisions of the earth's surface (torrid, temperate, frigid; separated by tropics of Cancer and Capricorn and Arctic and Antarctic circles); meaning "any discrete region" is first recorded 1822. Zone defense in team sports is recorded from 1927. Zoning "land-use planning" is recorded from 1912. Zoned (adj.) in drug-use sense is attested 1960s, from ozone, which is found high in the atmosphere; the related verb to zone is from 1980s.
- demilitarized zone
- attested by 1921 (the Versailles Treaty uses neutralized zone).
- concentration camp
- 1901, "compound for noncombatants in a war zone" (see concentration); a controversial idea from the second Boer War (1899-1902), and the term emerged with a bad odor. In ref. to prisons for dissidents and minorities in Nazi Germany from 1934, in Soviet Russia from 1935.
- zip (adj.)
- 1963, in U.S. postal ZIP code, an acronym for Zone Improvement Plan, no doubt chosen with conscious echo of zip (v.1).
- temperate
- late 14c., of persons, "modest, forbearing, self-restrained," from L. temperatus "restrained, regulated," from pp. of temperare "to moderate, regulate" (see temper). Applied to climates mid-15c.; temperate zone is attested from 1550s.
- torrid
- 1586, in torrid zone "region of the earth between the tropics," from L. torrida zona, from fem. of torridus "dried with heat, scorching hot," from torrere "to parch," from PIE base *ters- "to dry" (see terrain). Sense of "very hot" is first attested 1611.
- aphotic
- "untouched by sunlight, lightless" (in ref. to deep-sea regions), 1903, Mod.L., from Gk. a- "not, without" + phos (gen. photos) "light," related to phainein "to show, to bring to light" (see phantasm). Aphotic zone is recorded from 1913.
- abyss
- late 14c., earlier abime (c.1300), from L.L. abyssus "bottomless pit," from Gk. abyssos (limne) "bottomless (pool)," from a- "without" (see a- (2)) + byssos "bottom," possibly related to bathos "depth." Abyssal is first recorded 1690s, used especially of the zone of ocean water below 300 fathoms.
- climate
- late 14c., from O.Fr. climat, from L. clima (gen. climatis) "region, slope of the Earth," from Gk. klima "region, zone," from base of klinein "to slope," thus "slope of the Earth from equator to pole," from PIE base *klei- "to lean" (see lean (v.)). Angle of sun on the slope defined the zones assigned by early geographers. Meaning moved from "region" to "weather associated with that region" by c.1600.