Earth & SkyGreek → English
Geocentric
/ˌdʒiːoʊˈsɛntrɪk/adjective
Treating the earth as the fixed centre around which everything else moves.
The Greek roots
γῆ
gê
earth
κέντρον
kéntron
centre, point
Literally: “earth-centred”
The story of the word
The earth-at-the-centre model was not foolish. It matched the observations for fourteen centuries and predicted planetary positions well enough to run a calendar, which is more than most rejected theories manage. The English word dates from the 1680s, by which time it named a losing side. γῆ also gives geography, geology and the name George, the earth-worker.
- How it travelled
- Ancient Greek → Modern Latin → English
- First recorded
- 17th century
Same family
geographygeologyheliocentricGeorge
In a sentence
Ptolemy's geocentric system needed dozens of circles within circles, and it worked.