# Any other commonly used terms originate from now defunct scientific theories ? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 26, 2011, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-other-commonly-used-terms-originate-from-now-defunct-scientific-theories/569115 "2011-01-26T23:32:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Schnitte](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/schnitte/32/9033_2.png) [@Schnitte](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Schnitte)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2011, 7:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-other-commonly-used-terms-originate-from-now-defunct-scientific-theories/569115/21 "2011-01-27T07:32:53Z")
“Atom” is Greek and means indivisible, or incapable of being split. The ancient Greek philosopher Democritus hypothesised that matter was made up of elementary particles which he dubbed atoms. The word got reused by modern particle physics and is still in use even though now we know they can be split. ---
**Author:** ![Pitchmeister](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pitchmeister/32/3459_2.png) [@Pitchmeister](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pitchmeister)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2011, 8:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-other-commonly-used-terms-originate-from-now-defunct-scientific-theories/569115/22 "2011-01-27T08:25:43Z")
> [@Bartman](#): > > Ethernet - Intentionally chosen to hearken back to the luminiferous ether through which all electromagnetic waves were supposed to propagate. In German, radio or TV programs “travel over the ether”, although that expression is somewhat old-fashioned. It also post-dates the proof of the non-existence of ether. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2011, 8:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-other-commonly-used-terms-originate-from-now-defunct-scientific-theories/569115/23 "2011-01-27T08:48:36Z")
Ether is an interesting case: The term _originally_ dates back to the ancient Greeks, and was a synonym for “quintessence”: It was the fifth element, of which the stars and other heavenly bodies were made, and one of its key properties was that it was ever-moving. But, of course, the 19th-century version of the ether was invoked as something that was ever-_still_: It was the standard of “stationary”, against which all motion (including the motion of light) was relative. Now, of course, we know that ether is bunk, but quintessence (as I mentioned, once a synonym) is the name given to a broad class of models seeking to describe the mysterious “dark energy”. Of course, that may well turn out not to be a “substance”, either, but explained by a slight tweak to general relativity, in which case our descendants will probably laugh at us just as much as we laugh at the 19th-century physicists and their ether. ---
**Author:** ![Staggerlee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/staggerlee/32/3134_2.png) [@Staggerlee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Staggerlee)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2011, 9:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-other-commonly-used-terms-originate-from-now-defunct-scientific-theories/569115/24 "2011-01-27T09:00:17Z")
> [@griffin1977](#): > > Interesting. How has that come to mean “the epitome of” ? I hadn’t known its origin until this thread, but its modern usage must be referring to the ‘immutable’ aspect. So ‘quintessentially English’ conjures up something throroughly, unchangingly English, in that eternally unrealistic sense. ---
**Author:** ![Student\_Driver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3da27b/32.png) [@Student\_Driver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Student_Driver)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2011, 12:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-other-commonly-used-terms-originate-from-now-defunct-scientific-theories/569115/25 "2011-01-27T12:24:41Z")
Relatively minor, but the word “vitamin,” originally “vitamine,” has its origin in the incorrect theory that the substances so-named were composed of amines. ---
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2011, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-other-commonly-used-terms-originate-from-now-defunct-scientific-theories/569115/26 "2011-01-27T13:36:31Z")
“Brontosaurus” remains in the popular lexicon, while the more correct “apatosaurus” does not. ---
**Author:** ![Sailboat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sailboat/32/461_2.png) [@Sailboat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sailboat)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2011, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-other-commonly-used-terms-originate-from-now-defunct-scientific-theories/569115/27 "2011-01-27T14:17:55Z")
Now that you mention it, “dinosaur” itself means “terrible lizard,” and dinosaurs were not lizards (they were essentially birds, if I may shorthand a great deal of theory into a word.) ---
**Author:** ![shiftless](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9c0ed/32.png) [@shiftless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shiftless)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2011, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-other-commonly-used-terms-originate-from-now-defunct-scientific-theories/569115/28 "2011-01-27T14:28:07Z")
I got nothing, except for admiration for the entries here. This is the kind of stuff I come to the Dope for. ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2011, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-other-commonly-used-terms-originate-from-now-defunct-scientific-theories/569115/29 "2011-01-27T14:33:59Z")
(Re: Ethernet) > [@Derleth](#): > > This is interesting because the name was coined well after the theory it refers to was debunked. I can’t think of any other term that fits that criterion. In the same field, you might call a daemon or utilize a sprite. ---
**Author:** ![Morgenstern](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Morgenstern](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morgenstern)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2011, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-other-commonly-used-terms-originate-from-now-defunct-scientific-theories/569115/30 "2011-01-27T14:39:37Z")
Plutonian Astronomy. (Okay I made it up AFAIK, but I’m still pissed about it nonetheless) ---
**Author:** ![johnpost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f17d59/32.png) [@johnpost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnpost)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2011, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-other-commonly-used-terms-originate-from-now-defunct-scientific-theories/569115/31 "2011-01-27T14:56:56Z")
> [@griffin1977](#): > > I’ve occasionally heard reference to “the ether” but I’d hardly call it a commonly used term. thought it is common for people that do receiving of radio signals to refer to ‘getting signals out of the ether’. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2011, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-other-commonly-used-terms-originate-from-now-defunct-scientific-theories/569115/32 "2011-01-27T14:57:01Z")
[Panacea,](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panacea_(medicine)) a universal remedy, comes from alchemy. Also [magnum opus,](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnum_opus_(alchemy)) applied to the transmutation of base elements to gold.[Transmutation](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_transmutation) is still used in nuclear physics for the change of one element into another, as well as in other scientific contexts. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2011, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-other-commonly-used-terms-originate-from-now-defunct-scientific-theories/569115/33 "2011-01-27T15:07:50Z")
> [@Sailboat](#): > > Now that you mention it, “dinosaur” itself means “terrible lizard,” and dinosaurs were not lizards (they were essentially birds, if I may shorthand a great deal of theory into a word.) Technically speaking, birds are reptiles. Or in other words, there is no evolutionary definition of “reptile” you can make that includes lizards, crocodillians and turtles but doesn’t include birds. But yeah, dinosaurs aren’t lizards. ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2011, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-other-commonly-used-terms-originate-from-now-defunct-scientific-theories/569115/34 "2011-01-27T16:45:34Z")
“Sinister” from the belief that left handed people were possessed by the Devil. Maybe not all that Scientific of a belief, but in those days “Science” as we know it didn’t exist but it was believed by the “learned” people of the time. ---
**Author:** ![griffin1977](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/977dab/32.png) [@griffin1977](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/griffin1977)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2011, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-other-commonly-used-terms-originate-from-now-defunct-scientific-theories/569115/35 "2011-01-27T18:23:38Z")
> [@Schnitte](#): > > “Atom” is Greek and means indivisible, or incapable of being split. The ancient Greek philosopher Democritus hypothesised that matter was made up of elementary particles which he dubbed atoms. The word got reused by modern particle physics and is still in use even though now we know they can be split. I guess there is a second group of terms that had ancient meanings, based on now obsolete ideas as to how the universe worked, but are reused to describe vaguely similar concepts in modern science (e.g. atom, ether, quintessence, etc.). ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2011, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-other-commonly-used-terms-originate-from-now-defunct-scientific-theories/569115/36 "2011-01-27T18:34:14Z")
> [@griffin1977](#): > > I guess there is a second group of terms that had ancient meanings, based on now obsolete ideas as to how the universe worked, but are reused to describe vaguely similar concepts in modern science (e.g. atom, ether, quintessence, etc.). Planet? ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2011, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-other-commonly-used-terms-originate-from-now-defunct-scientific-theories/569115/37 "2011-01-27T18:41:18Z")
> [@](#): > > “Brontosaurus” remains in the popular lexicon, while the more correct “apatosaurus” does not. And “dog” remains in the popular lexicon, while the more correct “canis” doesn’t. ---
**Author:** ![cjepson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a9adbd/32.png) [@cjepson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cjepson)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2011, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-other-commonly-used-terms-originate-from-now-defunct-scientific-theories/569115/38 "2011-01-27T18:53:32Z")
“Idiot”, “imbecile”, and “moron” were originally medical terms with specific meanings. ---
**Author:** ![spenczar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/858c86/32.png) [@spenczar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/spenczar)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2011, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-other-commonly-used-terms-originate-from-now-defunct-scientific-theories/569115/39 "2011-01-27T19:22:15Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > [magnum opus,](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnum_opus_(alchemy)) applied to the transmutation of base elements to gold. The OED doesn’t support this at all. _Magnum opus_ first appeared in English writing as _opus magnum_ in the early 1700s to describe great works of art, a description which hasn’t significantly changed. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2011, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-other-commonly-used-terms-originate-from-now-defunct-scientific-theories/569115/40 "2011-01-27T19:45:14Z")
> [@spenczar](#): > > The OED doesn’t support this at all. _Magnum opus_ first appeared in English writing as _opus magnum_ in the early 1700s to describe great works of art, a description which hasn’t significantly changed. [Magnum opus](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnum_opus_(alchemy)) was used in alchemy to for the process of turning base metals into gold (or of part of the [process,](http://nysticorax.tripod.com/terms.html) as here). I will concede that the phrase may have entered English directly from the Latin to apply to works of art. However, it is possible that it entered English from some other language such as French or German, in which its use in art was influenced by its use in alchemy. (Admittedly this is speculation on my part.) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-other-commonly-used-terms-originate-from-now-defunct-scientific-theories/569115.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-other-commonly-used-terms-originate-from-now-defunct-scientific-theories/569115.md?page=3)