Earth & SkyGreek → English
Astral
/ˈæstrəl/adjective
Belonging to the stars, or in occult usage to a supposed non-physical plane.
The Greek roots
ἀστήρ
astḗr
star
Literally: “of the stars”
Follow a root:ἀστήρ4 words
The story of the word
Late Latin astralis is built on astrum, taken straight from Greek ἀστήρ. Nineteenth-century theosophists attached the word to a spirit body said to travel while the sleeper stays put, which is where astral projection comes from. The same root sits in disaster, literally an ill star, from the belief that misfortune came from above.
- How it travelled
- Ancient Greek → Latin → English
- First recorded
- 17th century
Same family
astronomyasteriskdisasterasteroid
In a sentence
The novel's hero wanders in astral form while his body lies in a hospital bed.