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Origin and history of equator

equator(n.)

late 14c., from Medieval Latin aequator (diei et noctis) "equalizer (of day and night)," agent noun from Latin aequare "make equal" (see equate). When the sun is on the celestial equator, twice annually, day and night are of equal length. Sense of "celestial equator" is earliest, extension to "terrestrial line midway between the poles" first recorded in English 1610s.

also from late 14c.

Entries linking to equator

equate(v.)

early 15c., equaten, in medicine, in reference to humors or elements, "make similar or the same; balance or harmonize; distribute (ingredients) uniformly;" also "reduce to evenness or smoothness; set (a fracture)," from Latin aequatus "level, levelled, even, side-by-side," past participle of aequare "make even or uniform, make equal," from aequus "level, even, equal" (see equal (adj.)).

Also in astrology, and in 16c.-17c. also "be equal to," a sense now obsolete. It is attested by mid-15c. in reference to numerical calculations. The meaning "regard as equal, represent as equal, place on a level with" is by 1837. Related: Equated; equating.

Ecuador

from the Spanish form of equator (which runs through it). Before 1830 the region bore the name of its chief city, Quito, which is from the name of a now-extinct native people, of unknown meaning. Related: Ecuadorian; Ecuadorean.

equatorial(adj.)

1660s, from equator + -ial. Related: Equatorially.

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    Trends of equator

    adapted from books.google.com/ngrams/ with a 7-year moving average; ngrams are probably unreliable.

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    solstice
    "one of the two times of the year when the sun is at the greatest distance from the equator," mid-13c., from Old French solstice...Solstices, because at those times the Sun seems to be at a stand with regard to his declination, neither going further from the Equator...
    equinox
    c. 1400, "point at which the sun crosses the earth's equator, making day and night of equal length everywhere," from Old...
    Amphiscians
    is sometimes to the North, and sometimes to the South" [Cockerham, 1623] depending on the sun being below or above the equator...
    declination
    late 14c., declinacioun, in astronomy, "distance of a heavenly body from the celestial equator, measured on a great circle...
    Ophiuchus
    is a rare (minor) lapse for a poet who generally knew his astronomy; the constellation actually straddles the celestial equator...
    climate
    late 14c., "horizontal zone of the earth's surface measured by lines parallel to the equator," from Old French climat "region...slope of the earth," from Greek klima "region, zone," literally "an inclination, slope," thus "slope of the earth from equator...
    Arctic Circle
    In geography, from 1620s as "the circle roughly 66 degrees 32 minutes north of the equator" (based on obliquity of the ecliptic...
    circle
    c. 1300, "figure of a circle, a plane figure whose periphery is everywhere equidistant from its center point," from Old French cercle "circle, ring (for the finger); hoop of a helmet or barrel" (12c.), from Latin circulus "circular figure; small ring, hoop; circular orbit" (also
    cleric
    "a clergyman," 1620s (also in early use as an adjective), from Church Latin clericus "clergyman, priest," noun use of adjective meaning "priestly, belonging to the clerus;" from Ecclesiastical Greek klērikos "pertaining to an inheritance," but in Greek Christian jargon by 2c., "o
    filibuster
    1580s, flibutor "pirate," especially, in history, "West Indian buccaneer of the 17th century" (mainly French, Dutch, and English adventurers), probably ultimately from Dutch vrijbueter (now vrijbuiter) "freebooter," a word which was used of pirates in the West Indies in Spanish (

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