“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.
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.
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.
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.
Relatively minor, but the word “vitamin,” originally “vitamine,” has its origin in the incorrect theory that the substances so-named were composed of amines.
“Brontosaurus” remains in the popular lexicon, while the more correct “apatosaurus” does not.
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.)
I got nothing, except for admiration for the entries here. This is the kind of stuff I come to the Dope for.
(Re: Ethernet)
In the same field, you might call a daemon or utilize a sprite.
Plutonian Astronomy.
(Okay I made it up AFAIK, but I’m still pissed about it nonetheless)
thought it is common for people that do receiving of radio signals to refer to ‘getting signals out of the ether’.
Panacea, a universal remedy, comes from alchemy. Also magnum opus, applied to the transmutation of base elements to gold.Transmutation is still used in nuclear physics for the change of one element into another, as well as in other scientific contexts.
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.
“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.
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?
And “dog” remains in the popular lexicon, while the more correct “canis” doesn’t.
“Idiot”, “imbecile”, and “moron” were originally medical terms with specific meanings.
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 was used in alchemy to for the process of turning base metals into gold (or of part of the process, 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.)