Etymology
6 entries found.

astronaut (n.)

"space-traveler," 1929 in scientific speculation, popularized from 1961 by U.S. space program, a compound from Greek elements, from astro- "star" + Greek nautes "sailor," from PIE root *nau- "boat." French astronautique (adj.) had been coined 1927 by "J.H. Rosny," pen name of Belgian-born science fiction writer Joseph Henri Honoré Boex, on model of aéronautique, and Astronaut was used in 1880 as the name of a fictional spaceship by English writer Percy Greg in "Across the Zodiac."

astronautics (n.)

"the art of traveling in outer space," 1929; see astronaut + -ics.

*nau- 

nāu-, Proto-Indo-European root meaning "boat." It forms all or part of: aeronautics; aquanaut; Argonaut; astronaut; cosmonaut; nacelle; naval; nave (n.1) "main part of a church;" navicular; navigate; navigation; navy; naufragous; nausea; nautical; nautilus; noise. It is the hypothetical source of/evidence for its existence is provided by: Sanskrit nauh, accusative navam "ship, boat;" Armenian nav "ship;" Greek naus "ship," nautes "sailor;" Latin navis "ship;" Old Irish nau "ship," Welsh noe "a flat vessel;" Old Norse nor "ship."

*ster- (2)

Proto-Indo-European root meaning "star." Buck and others doubt the old suggestion that it is a borrowing from Akkadian istar "venus." The source of the common Balto-Slavic word for "star" (Lithuanian žvaigždė, Old Church Slavonic zvezda, Polish gwiazda, Russian zvezda) is not explained. It forms all or part of: aster; asterisk; asterism; asteroid; astral; astro-; astrobiology; astrobleme; astrognosy; astroid; astrolabe; astrolatry; astrology; astromancy; astronaut; astronomy; AstroTurf; constellation; disaster; Estella; Esther; instellation; interstellar; lodestar; star; stardust; starfish; starlet; starlight; starry; stellar; stellate. It is the hypothetical source of/evidence for its existence is provided by: Sanskrit star-; Hittite shittar, Greek aster "star," with derivative astron; Latin stella, Breton sterenn, Welsh seren "star."

spaceman (n.)

1942 in the astronaut sense, from space (n.) + man (n.). Earlier it meant "journalist paid by the length of his copy" (1892). Spacewoman recorded from 1960.

cosmonaut (n.)

"a Russian astronaut," 1959, Englishing of Russian kosmonavt, which is ultimately from Greek kosmos (see cosmo-) + nautes "sailor" (from PIE root *nau- "boat"). In reference to space travel, cosmonautic is attested by 1947.
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