astronomer

Etymology

It is formed from English astronomy + -er,^[2][3][4][5] and replaced astronomien (about 1330),^[2][4][6] astronomien, recorded in Old French from 1119 and formed from astronomie.^[4] The OED sees it partly as an alteration of the older word with a change of suffix,^[4][7] and partly as Late Latin astronomus with the English suffix.^[4] The Latin word, used by Jerome, is from Ancient Greek ἀστρονόμος (astronómos), from ἄστρον (ástron, “star”) and -νόμος (-nómos), from the stem of νέμειν (némein, “to manage”).^[4][2] Etymonline reads the Greek word as "star-regulating", tracing the first element to Proto-Indo-European *ster- (“star”) and the second to Proto-Indo-European *nem- (“assign, allot; take”).^[2] French has had astronome from 1549.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

A student of astronomy as it was understood in the Middle Ages: before 1382, in the prologue to the Wycliffite Bible, a translation of St Jerome's epistle.^[4] Etymonline gives the late 14th century,^[2] and Dictionary.com 1325–75.^[5]

Semantic evolution

Medieval astronomy took in the reading of the stars for human affairs, so the word also meant an astrologer, from before 1387 in Trevisa's translation of Higden's Polychronicon until 1635.^[4][3][7] Johnson (1755) defined it as one "that studies the celestial motions, and the rules by which they are governed".^[8] The title Astronomer Royal is recorded from 1714;^[4] the Shorter Oxford notes that it was held by two astronomers, one in England and one in Scotland.^[3] In 19th-century flash slang an astronomer was a horse that carries its head high.^[9]

Timeline

• before 1382 – a student of astronomy.^[4]
• before 1387 – an astrologer (obsolete by 1635).^[4]
• 1714 – Astronomer Royal.^[4]
• 1835 – slang, a horse that holds its head high.^[9]

Meanings

Noun

1. A scientist who studies astronomy, the stars, planets and other celestial bodies: The astronomer spent the night photographing a comet.^[10][7][4]
2. Astronomer Royal: the title of a senior British astronomer appointed to the Royal Household.^[4][3]
3. (obsolete, 1387–1635) An astrologer.^[4][3][7]

Related words

• Astronomer Royal
• astronomy
• astrology
• astrologer
• astronomical
• astro-
• -nomy
• star
• disaster

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ a b c d e Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
6. ^ Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
7. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
8. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
9. ^ a b Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com
10. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins