Earth & SkyGreek → English
Hydrography
/haɪˈdrɒɡrəfi/noun
The surveying and charting of seas, coasts, depths and currents.
The Greek roots
ὕδωρ
hýdōr
water
γράφειν
gráphein
to write, draw
Literally: “water writing”
The story of the word
ὕδωρ plus γράφειν, drawing the water. English had the word by the sixteenth century, when accurate charts were state secrets and a stolen soundings book could decide a war or a trade route. Hydraulic joins the same water to αὐλός, a pipe, and the Hydra was simply the water-snake.
- How it travelled
- Ancient Greek → Latin → French → English
- First recorded
- 16th century
Same family
hydrantdehydratehydraulicgeography
In a sentence
The survey ship spent the season on hydrography, running lines back and forth across the same forty miles.