apogee

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˈæp.ə.d͡ʒi/^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French apogée or New Latin apogaeum,^[2][3][4][5] from Ancient Greek ἀπόγαιον (apógaion), short for ἀπόγαιον διάστημα (apógaion diástēma, “distance away from the earth”),^[4][6][7] the neuter of ἀπόγαιος (apógaios, “far from the earth”),^[2][3][4][5] from ἀπό (apó, “away from”) (see apo-) and γαῖα (gaîa), γῆ (gê, “earth”).^[2][3][4][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

The point in the orbit of the moon or a planet at which it is farthest from the earth (1594 in the OED, Barnhart and Merriam-Webster).^[8][3][5]

Semantic evolution

The term comes from Ptolemaic astronomy, which put the earth at the centre of the universe, and dates back to Ptolemy in the 2nd century.^[4][9] It was also used of the sun's greatest altitude, its meridian height on the longest day (1605, now obsolete).^[8] The figurative sense, the highest point or culmination, is recorded from 1600 in the OED and Barnhart, but from the 1640s in Etymonline.^[8][3][4] In the space age it named the highest point of a rocket's trajectory (1958) and the point of an artificial satellite's orbit farthest from the earth.^[8][2][5] aphelion was formed in imitation of it.^[9]

Timeline

• 1594 – the farthest point of an orbit from the earth.^[8][3][5]
• 1600 – the highest point, culmination.^[8][3]
• 1605 – the sun's greatest altitude (obsolete).^[8]
• 1958 – the highest point of a rocket's path.^[8]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. (astronomy) The point in the orbit of the moon or an artificial satellite farthest from the centre of the earth; also the point farthest from any body being orbited.
2. The highest or farthest point; the culmination or apex.

Word family

• apogean

Related words

• perigee
• aphelion
• geo-
• zenith
• acme

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
3. ^ a b c d e f g Barnhart, Robert K., ed. (1995), The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology, New York: HarperCollins
4. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b c d e f Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary (1999), 2nd ed., New York: Random House
7. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ a b c d e f g h Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
9. ^ a b Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray