Earth & SkyGreek → English
Loxodrome
/ˈlɒksədroʊm/noun
A path on the globe that crosses every meridian at the same angle, the line a ship follows on a fixed compass bearing.
The Greek roots
λοξός
loxós
slanting, oblique
δρόμος
drómos
running, course
Literally: “slanting course”
The story of the word
Pedro Nunes worked out in 1537 that a constant bearing does not trace a great circle but a spiral tightening endlessly toward the pole. Willebrord Snell gave the curve its Greek name in 1624. Mercator's projection exists to solve exactly this problem: it distorts area brutally so that every loxodrome comes out as a straight line you can rule across the chart, which is why the map that misrepresents Greenland was worth having at sea.
- How it travelled
- Ancient Greek → Modern Latin → English
- First recorded
- 17th century
Same family
rhumbhippodromepalindromesyndrome
In a sentence
A loxodrome from Lisbon to Boston is longer than the great circle, and much easier to steer.