Earth & SkyGreek → English
Topography
/təˈpɑːɡrəfi/noun
The shape and surface features of a piece of ground, or the mapping of them.
The Greek roots
τόπος
tópos
place
γράφειν
gráphein
to write, describe
Literally: “place-writing”
The story of the word
Greek τοπογραφία meant a written description of a place, prose rather than contour lines; the visual sense came later, with surveying instruments. τόπος is also the topic: in rhetoric a τόπος was a standard place you went to look for arguments, which is why we still talk about covering ground in a discussion. Isotope says the same place, elements sharing one square of the periodic table.
- How it travelled
- Ancient Greek → Latin → English
- First recorded
- 15th century
Same family
topicutopiaisotopetopology
In a sentence
The topography does the work: no army has ever taken that pass in winter.