Origin of The Term
Stalactites are first mentioned (though not by name) by the Roman natural historian Pliny in a text which also mentions stalagmites and columns and refers to their creation by the dripping of water. The term "stalactite" was coined in the 17th century by the Danish Physician Ole Worm who created the word from the Greek root stalasso, (σταλάσσω), "to drip".
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Famous quotes containing the words origin of, origin and/or term:
“Someone had literally run to earth
In an old cellar hole in a byroad
The origin of all the family there.
Thence they were sprung, so numerous a tribe
That now not all the houses left in town
Made shift to shelter them without the help
Of here and there a tent in grove and orchard.”
—Robert Frost (1874–1963)
“Someone had literally run to earth
In an old cellar hole in a byroad
The origin of all the family there.
Thence they were sprung, so numerous a tribe
That now not all the houses left in town
Made shift to shelter them without the help
Of here and there a tent in grove and orchard.”
—Robert Frost (1874–1963)
“There are no illegitimate children, only illegitimate parents—if the term is to be used at all.”
—Bernadette McAliskey (Nee Devlin)