Etymology
The word aerodrome is derived from the Greek words aeros (αέρος), "air" and dromos (δρόμος), "road" or "course", literally meaning "air course".
In the UK, the term was used by the Royal Flying Corps in the First World War and Royal Air Force in the two World Wars as it had the advantage that their French allies, on whose soil they were based and with whom they co-operated, used the equivalent term (aérodrome). However, the term airfield or airport has mostly superseded use of aerodrome.
In Canada and Australia aerodrome is a legal term of art for any area of land or water used for aircraft operation, regardless of facilities.
The term aerodrome is used in International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) documents, for example in the Annex to the ICAO Convention about aerodromes, their physical characteristics and their operation.
Read more about this topic: Aerodrome
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)
“Semantically, taste is rich and confusing, its etymology as odd and interesting as that of “style.” But while style—deriving from the stylus or pointed rod which Roman scribes used to make marks on wax tablets—suggests activity, taste is more passive.... Etymologically, the word we use derives from the Old French, meaning touch or feel, a sense that is preserved in the current Italian word for a keyboard, tastiera.”
—Stephen Bayley, British historian, art critic. “Taste: The Story of an Idea,” Taste: The Secret Meaning of Things, Random House (1991)