Earth & SkyGreek → English
Air
/ɛər/noun
The invisible mixture of gases surrounding the earth, which we breathe.
The Greek roots
ἀήρ
aḗr
mist, lower air
Literally: “the hazy lower air”
Follow a root:ἀήρ15 words
The story of the word
For Homer ἀήρ is the thick haze down near the ground; the bright upper air is αἰθήρ, a different substance altogether. Anaximenes then made ἀήρ the origin of every other thing, which is how a weather word ended up in philosophy. Latin aer carried it through Old French into English around 1300. The same word arrived once more from Italian as aria, which is why a tune can be an air.
- How it travelled
- Ancient Greek → Latin → Old French → English
- First recorded
- circa 1300
The same roots elsewhere
Other languages reached for exactly the same Greek pieces.
Same family
aerialaerobicaerosolanaerobic
In a sentence
The air on the ridge was thin enough to slow them down.
Let some air into that room before you sit down to work.