Earth & SkyGreek → English
Eclipse
/ɪˈklɪps/noun
The blocking of light from one heavenly body by another moving in front of it.
The Greek roots
ἐκ
ek
out of, away
λείπειν
leípein
to leave, fail
Literally: “a leaving out”
The story of the word
To a Greek the sun was not covered, it quit: ἐκλείπειν is the verb for abandoning a post or failing to show up. Eclipses were read as warnings, and one in 413 BC kept the Athenian fleet at anchor off Syracuse long enough for it to be destroyed. The same root gives ellipsis, the mark of words left out, and ellipse, the curve Apollonius named because it falls short of a circle.
- How it travelled
- Ancient Greek → Latin → Old French → English
- First recorded
- 13th century
Same family
ellipsisellipseelliptical
In a sentence
We drove four hours to stand inside the eclipse for two minutes.
The scandal eclipsed everything else on the agenda.