Etymology
OED gives the translation "star-taker" for the English word "astrolabe" and traces it, through medieval Latin, to the Greek word astrolabos. In the medieval Islamic world the word "asturlab" (i.e. astrolabe) was given various etymologies. In Arabic texts the word is translated as "akhdh al-kawakib" (lit. "taking the stars") which corresponds to an interpretation of the Greek word. Al-Biruni quotes and criticizes the medieval scientist Hamza al-Isfahani who had stated: "asturlab is an arabization of this Persian phrase" (sitara yab, meaning "taker of the stars"). In medieval Islamic sources there is also a "fictional" and popular etymology of the words as "lines of lab". In this popular etymology "Lab" is a certain son of Idris (=Enoch). This etymology is mentioned by a 10th-century scientist called al-Qummi but rejected by al-Khwarizmi.
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Famous quotes containing the word etymology:
“The universal principle of etymology in all languages: words are carried over from bodies and from the properties of bodies to express the things of the mind and spirit. The order of ideas must follow the order of things.”
—Giambattista Vico (1688–1744)
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