Earth & SkyGreek → English
Horizon
/həˈraɪzən/noun
The line where the earth and the sky appear to meet.
The Greek roots
ὅρος
hóros
boundary, limit
Literally: “the bounding circle”
Follow a root:ὅρος3 words
The story of the word
The full Greek phrase was ὁρίζων κύκλος, the bounding circle, and English kept only the participle, so the word is literally the thing doing the bounding. ὅρος was a boundary stone set in a field, and it also underlies aphorism, a saying with its edges cut sharp. Chaucer wrote orisonte, taking the French form, before the Latin spelling won out in the 16th century.
- How it travelled
- Ancient Greek → Latin → Old French → English
- First recorded
- late 14th century
Same family
aphorismhorizontal
In a sentence
Nothing on the horizon but a container ship going the other way.
The job widened her horizons and shortened her patience.