Online Etymology Dictionary

sphere: 1530s, restored spelling of M.E. spere (c.1300) "space, conceived as a hollow globe about the world," from O.Fr. espere (13c.), from L. sphæra "globe, ball, celestial sphere," from Gk. sphaira "globe, ball," of unknown origin. Sense of "ball, body of globular form" is from late 14c. Medieval astronomical meaning "one of the 8 (later 10) concentric, transparent, hollow globes believed to revolve around the earth and carry the heavenly bodies" is from late 14c.; the supposed harmonious sound they made rubbing against one another was the music of the spheres (late 14c.). Meaning "range of something" is first recorded c.1600 (e.g. sphere of influence (1885), in reference to British-German colonial rivalry in Africa). A spherical number (1640s) is one whose powers always terminate in the same digit as the number itself (5,6, and 10 are the only ones).
troposphere: 1914, from Fr. troposphère, lit. "sphere of change," coined by Fr. meteorologist Philippe Teisserenc de Bort (1855-1913) from Gk. tropos "a turn, change" (see trope) + sphaira "sphere."
stratosphere: 1909, from Fr. stratosphère, lit. "sphere of layers," coined by Fr. meteorologist Léon-Philippe Teisserenc de Bort (1855-1913) from L. stratus "a spreading out" (from pp. stem of sternere "to spread out;" see structure) + Fr. -sphère, as in atmosphère. The region where the temperature increases or remains steady as you go higher. [An earlier stratosphere, attested in Eng. 1908 and coined in Ger. 1901, was a geological term for part of the Earth's crust. It is now obsolete.]
globe: 1550s, "sphere," from L. globus "round mass, sphere," related to gleba "clod, soil, land." Sense of "planet earth," or a three-dimensional map of it first attested 1550s. Global village first attested 1960, popularized, if not coined, by Canadian educator Marshall McLuhan (1911-80).
"Postliterate man's electronic media contract the world to a village or tribe where everything happens to everyone at the same time: everyone knows about, and therefore participates in, everything that is happening the minute it happens. Television gives this quality of simultaneity to events in the global village." [Carpenter & McLuhan, "Explorations in Communication," 1960]
lithosphere: "solid part of the earth's surface," from Gk. lithos "stone" + sphere.
magnetosphere: 1959, from comb. form of magnet + sphere.
biosphere: 1899, on model of Ger. Biosphäre (1875), coined by Ger. geologist Eduard Suess (1831–1914), from bio- + sphere.
asthenosphere: layer of the Earth's upper mantle, 1914, from Gk. asthenos (see asthenia) + sphere.
chromosphere: 1868, from chromo-, from Gk. khrome "color" + -sphere. So called for its redness.
impertinent: late 14c., "unconnected, unrelated," from L.L. impertinentem (nom. impertinens) "not belonging," lit. "not to the point," from L. in- "not" + pertinens (see pertinent). Sense of "rudely bold" is 1680s, probably modeled on similar use in French, especially by Molière, from notion of meddling with what is beyond one's proper sphere.
empyrean: mid-14c. (as empyre), from Gk. empyros "fiery," from pyr "fire;" confused by early writers with imperial. In Gk. cosmology, the highest heaven, the sphere of pure fire; later baptized with a Christian gloss as "the abode of God and the angels."
bailiwick: "district of a bailiff," mid-15c., baillifwik, from bailiff (q.v.) + O.E. wic "village" (see wick (2)). Figurative sense of "one's natural or proper sphere" is first recorded 1843.
glebe: 1302, from O.Fr. glebe, from L. gleba "clod, lump," from PIE *glebh- "to roll into a ball" (cf. L. globus "sphere," O.E. clyppan "to embrace"). Earliest Eng. sense is "land forming a clergyman's benefice," on notion of soil of the earth as source of vegetable products.
hemisphere: late 14c., from L. hemisphærium, from Gk. hemisphairion, from hemi- "half" + sphaira "sphere."
Iron Curtain: in ref. to the Soviet occupation of Eastern Europe, famously coined by Churchill March 5, 1946, in speech at Westminster College, Fulton, Missouri, but it had been used earlier in this context (e.g. by U.S. bureaucrat Allen W. Dulles at a meeting of the Council on Foreign Relations, Dec. 3, 1945). The fig. sense of "impenetrable barrier" is attested from 1819, and the specific sense of "barrier at the edge of the sphere of influence of the Soviet Union" is recorded from 1920. During World War II, Goebbels used in in Ger. (ein eiserner Vorhang) in the same sense.
dictator: late 14c., from L. dictator, agent noun from dictare (see dictate). Transf. sense of "one who has absolute power or authority" in any sphere is from c.1600. In Latin use, a dictator was a judge in the Roman republic temporarily invested with absolute power.
antagonist: c.1600, from L. antagonista, from Gk. antagonistes "competitor, opponent, rival," from antagonizesthai "to struggle against," from anti- "against" + agonizesthai "to contend for a prize," from agon "contest" (see agony). Originally in battle or sport, extended 1620s to any sphere of human activity. Related: Antagonistic (1630s).
atmosphere: 1630s, from Mod.L. atmosphaera, from atmo-, comb. form of Gk. atmos "vapor, steam" + spharia "sphere." First used in Eng. in connection with the Moon, which, as it turns out, doesn't have one. Figurative sense of "surrounding influence, mental or moral environment" is 1797. Gk. atmos is from PIE *awet-mo-, from base *wet- "to blow, inspire, spiritually arouse" (see wood (adj.)).
lexicon: c.1600, "a dictionary," from Mod.L., from Gk. lexikon (biblion) "word (book)," from neut. of lexikos "pertaining to words," from lexis "word," from legein "say" (see lecture). Used originally of dictionaries of Gk., Syriac, Hebrew and Arabic, since these usually were in Latin and in Mod.L. lexicon, not dictionarius, was the preferred word. The modern sense of "vocabulary proper to some sphere of activity" (1640s) is a figurative extension.
roundelay: 1573, from M.Fr. rondelet, dim. of rondel "short poem with a refrain," lit. "small circle," from O.Fr. rondel, dim. of rond "circle, sphere," originally an adj. from roont (see round). Spelling developed by association with lay (n.) "poem to be sung."
pole (2): "ends of Earth's axis," c.1391, from L. polus "end of an axis, the sky," from Gk. polos "pivot, axis of a sphere, the sky," from PIE *kwolo- "turn round," from base *kwel- (see cycle). Astronomical pole-star (proper name Polaris) is from 1555. The O.E. word for it was Scip-steorra "ship-star," reflecting its importance in navigation.
orb: c.1420 (implied in orbicular), "sphere, globe," also "emblem of sovereignty," from O.Fr. orbe (13c.), from L. orbem (nom. orbis) "circle, disk, ring," probably related to orbita "wheel track, rut," of unknown origin. Some suggest a connection with the root of orchid (q.v.). A three-dimensional extension of a word originally describing two-dimensional shapes. Astronomical sense is from 1526, in ref. to the hollow spheres that carried the planets and stars in the Ptolemaic system. Orb weaver spider is first recorded 1889.
tropic: c.1391, "either of the two circles in the celestial sphere which describe the northernmost and southernmost points of the ecliptic," from L.L. tropicus "of or pertaining to the solstice" (as a noun, "one of the tropics"), from L. tropicus "pertaining to a turn," from Gk. tropikos "of or pertaining to a turn or change, or to the solstice" (as a noun, "the solstice"), from trope "a turning" (see trope). The notion is of the point at which the sun "turns back" after reaching its northernmost or southernmost point in the sky. Extended 1527 to the corresponding latitudes on the earth's surface (23 degrees 28 minutes north and south); meaning "region between these parallels" is from 1837. Tropical "hot and lush like the climate of the tropics" is first attested 1834.
ether: late 14c., from L. æther "the upper pure, bright air," from Gk. aither "upper air," from aithein "to burn, shine," from I.E. base *aidh- "to burn" (cf. Skt. inddhe "burst into flames," O.Ir. aed "fire," L. aedes, see edify). In ancient cosmology, the element that filled all space beyond the sphere of the moon, constituting the substance of the stars and planets. Conceived of as a purer form of fire or air, or as a fifth element. From 17c.-19c., it was the scientific word for an assumed "frame of reference" for forces in the universe, perhaps without material properties. The concept was shaken by the Michelson-Morley experiment (1887) and discarded after the Theory of Relativity won acceptance, but before it went it gave rise to the colloquial use of ether for "the radio" (1899). The name also was bestowed 1757 on a volatile chemical compound for its lightness and lack of color (its anesthetic properties weren't fully established until 1842).
tennis: 1345, most likely from Anglo-Fr. tenetz "hold! receive! take!," from O.Fr. tenez, imperative of tenir "to hold, receive, take," which was used as a call from the server to his opponent. The original version of the game (a favorite sport of medieval Fr. knights) was played by striking the ball with the palm of the hand, and in O.Fr. was called la paulme, lit. "the palm," but to an onlooker the service cry would naturally seem to identify the game. The use of the word for the modern game is from 1874, short for lawn tennis, which originally was called sphairistike (1873), from Gk. sphairistike (tekhne) "(skill) in playing at ball," from the root of sphere. It was invented, and named, by Maj. Walter C. Wingfield and first played at a garden party in Wales, inspired by the popularity of badminton.
"The name 'sphairistike,' however, was impossible (if only because people would pronounce it as a word of three syllables to rhyme with 'pike') and it was soon rechristened." ["Times" of London, June 10, 1927]
navel: O.E. nafela, from P.Gmc. *nabalan (cf. O.N. nafli, O.Fris. navla, M.Du. navel, O.H.G. nabalo, Ger. Nabel), from PIE *(o)nobh- "navel" (cf. Skt. nabhila "navel, nave, relationship;" Avestan nafa "navel," naba-nazdishta "next of kin;" Pers. naf; O.Prus. nabis "navel;" Gk. omphalos; O.Ir. imbliu). Cf. also L. umbilicus "navel," source of Sp. ombligo and O.Fr. lombril, lit. "the navel," from l'ombril, which by dissimilation became modern Fr. nombril (12c.). "Navel" words from other roots include Lith. bamba, Skt. bimba- (also "disk, sphere"), Gk. bembix, lit. "whirlpool." O.C.S. papuku, Lith. pumpuras are originally "bud." Considered a feminine sexual center since ancient times, and still in parts of the Middle East, India, and Japan. Even in medieval Europe, it was averred that "[t]he seat of wantonness in women is the navel." [Cambridge bestiary, C.U.L. ii.4.26] Words for it in most languages have a secondary sense of "center." Meaning "center or hub of a country" is attested in Eng. from 1382. To contemplate (one's) navel "meditate" is from 1933; hence navel-gazer (1952). Navel orange attested from 1888.
so long: parting salutation, 1860, of unknown origin, perhaps from a Ger. idiom (cf. Ger. parting salutation adieu so lange, the full sense of which probably is something like "farewell, whilst (we're apart)"), perhaps from Heb. shalom (via Yiddish sholom). Some have noted a similarity to Scand. leave-taking phrases, cf. Norw. Adjø så lenge, Farvel så lenge, Mor’n så lenge, lit. "bye so long, farewell so long, morning so long;" and Swed. Hej så länge "good-bye for now," with så länge "for now" attested since 1850 according to Swed. sources. Most etymology sources seem to lean toward the Ger. origin. Earlier guesses that it was a sailors' corruption of a South Pacific form of Arabic salaam are not now regarded as convincing. "Dictionary of American Slang" also adds to the list of candidates Ir. slan "health," said to be used as a toast and a salutation. The phrase seems to have turned up simultaneously in Amer.Eng., Britain, and perhaps Canada, originally among lower classes. First attested use is in title and text of the last poem in Whitman's "Leaves of Grass" in the 1860 edition.
An unknown sphere, more real than I dream’d, more direct, darts awakening rays about me—So long!
Remember my words—I may again return,
I love you—I depart from materials;
I am as one disembodied, triumphant, dead.
Whitman's friend and fan William Sloane Kennedy, wrote in 1923:
"The salutation of parting—‘So long!’—was, I believe, until recent years, unintelligible to the majority of persons in America, especially in the interior, and to members of the middle and professional classes. I had never heard of it until I read it in Leaves of Grass, but since then have quite often heard it used by the laboring class and other classes in New England cities. Walt wrote to me, defining ‘so long’ thus: ‘A salutation of departure, greatly used among sailors, sports, & prostitutes—the sense of it is ‘Till we meet again,’— conveying an inference that somehow they will doubtless so meet, sooner or later.” ... It is evidently about equivalent to our ‘See you later.’ The phrase is reported as used by farm laborers near Banff, Scotland. In Canada it is frequently heard; ‘and its use is not entirely confined to the vulgar.’ It is in common use among the working classes of Liverpool and among sailors at Newcastle-upon-Tyne, and in Dorsetshire. ... The London Globe suggests that the expression is derived from the Norwegian ‘Saa laenge,’ a common form of ‘farewell,’ au revoir. If so, the phrase was picked up from the Norwegians in America, where ‘So long’ first was heard. The expression is now (1923) often used by the literary and artistic classes."