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Re: (meteorobs) Meteors and meteorology - some more about meteorology
Forwarding from Petros Georgopoulos: petros1gr@netscapedot net
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Basically Gregory is correct but I have a few points to correct... The root
of the word 'meteoro' in Greek is 'aioro' which is turned (and pronounced the
same) 'eoro'. It's not 'aero'... 'aioro' is the root of the verb that means
hovering. Therefore 'meteoro' is something that falls in the air, or is
hovering (eg a cloud). The word in Greek is also used to describe an
uncertain situation.
Actually the word 'air' is related to 'aioro' (which is a verb) as the
ancient Greek word for air is 'air' (yes exactly the same) -but with the 'i'
written with the letter ita instead, and is pronounced differently. This root
has been turned to 'aer' in modern Greek which obviously confused Gregory...
For meteorology, the -'logy' part comes from the word 'logos' which means
speech (like 'word' sometimes used in the Bible), but in the sense
of 'speaking of' or better 'study of'. The word logic is of exactly the same
Greek root.
Therefore meteorology means study of things hovering [in the air], like
clouds. While 'meteoro' is called something that hovers or falls through the
air. Gregory correctly points out that these words were produced before
anything was known about the exact nature of meteors, ie that they are not
produced in the troposphere where most atmospheric phenomena happen, since
the troposphere is a recent discovery!
Meteorology could have the meaning of meteor study as well based on the
above analysis of this word meaning, but in recent times it has been adapted
for the atmospheric study alone, especially since we know it's a totally
different scientific field...
Petros Georgopoulos
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