Earth & SkyGreek → English
Chart
/tʃɑrt/noun
A map for navigation, or a diagram displaying information.
The Greek roots
χάρτης
khártēs
sheet of papyrus
Literally: “a sheet of papyrus”
Follow a root:χάρτης7 words
The story of the word
χάρτης is the writing surface itself, not what is on it, and Latin charta then meant paper, a document, and eventually anything written on one. English took chart in the 1570s specifically for a sea map, and card, charter and cartoon all descend from the same sheet; a cartoon began as a full-size drawing on paper for a fresco. Magna Carta is the great sheet of paper, and the record charts are called that because they were printed lists.
- How it travelled
- Ancient Greek → Latin → Middle French → English
- First recorded
- 1570s
The same roots elsewhere
Other languages reached for exactly the same Greek pieces.
Same family
cardchartercartooncartoncartography
In a sentence
He kept the old paper chart in the locker, in case the plotter died.