Pluto

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin Plūtō,^[2][3][4] from Ancient Greek Πλούτων (Ploútōn), the god of the underworld,^[2][3] from πλοῦτος (ploûtos, “wealth, riches”).^[3][5] Etymonline takes the name as an alternative name or epithet of Hades as the god of wealth, because precious metals and gems come from under the earth,^[3] and derives the noun from Proto-Indo-European *pleu- (“to flow”), through a probable original sense "overflowing".^[3] Klein explains it as short for Πλουτοδότης (Ploutodótēs, “giver of riches”),^[4] and Partridge reports that Plato connected the god with the word for wealth.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

The god of the underworld and of the dead: about 1330, in Sir Orfeo;^[2] Etymonline dates it to the early 14th century.^[3]

Semantic evolution

The body now called Pluto was found by the American astronomer Clyde Tombaugh in 1930,^[3][6] and Minerva was among the other names suggested.^[3] The OED records that Venetia Burney, an eleven-year-old English schoolgirl, suggested the name in March 1930 at breakfast to her grandfather, who passed it to the astronomer H. H. Turner, and he telegraphed it to the Lowell Observatory.^[2] It has since been downgraded from a planet: Merriam-Webster and Collins class it as a dwarf planet.^[3][7][6] Disney's cartoon dog first appeared in Moose Hunt, released in April 1931, according to Etymonline,^[3] and the OED's first record of the name is from 1932.^[2] The American phrase since Pluto was a pup, for a very long time, is from 1946.^[2] The planet in turn gave the name of plutonium.^[3]

Timeline

• c. 1330 – the god of the underworld.^[2]
• 1930 – the small body orbiting beyond Neptune, in the New York Times of 26 March.^[2][3]
• 1932 – the cartoon dog.^[2]
• 1946 – since Pluto was a pup.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. A dwarf planet in the Kuiper belt, formerly counted as a planet.^[7][6][2][3]
2. In classical mythology, the god of the underworld and of the dead; Hades.^[2][7][6]
3. A cartoon dog in Walt Disney's films.^[2][3]

Word family

• plutonism
• Plutonian
• plutonic
• plutonium

Related words

• plutocrat
• plutocracy
• Hades
• Neptune

Usage notes

PLUTO was also the code name of the fuel pipelines laid under the English Channel in 1944 for the Allied forces in France, an acronym of "pipeline under the ocean".^[2][6]

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
5. ^ a b Partridge, Eric (1966), Origins: A Short Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, 4th ed., London: Routledge & Kegan Paul
6. ^ a b c d e Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
7. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster