nebula

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˈnɛb.jə.lə/^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin nebula (“mist, vapour, cloud”),^[2][3][4][5] first as inherited from Middle English nebule,^[2][3][4] from Proto-Indo-European *nebh- (“cloud”).^[4][2][6] It is related to Ancient Greek νεφέλη (nephélē, “cloud”), νέφος (néphos), Sanskrit नभस् (nábhas, “mist, sky”), Old High German nebul (“fog”) (German Nebel) and Old English nifol (“dark”).^[3][7][6][8]

Earliest recorded meaning

As nebule, a cloud or mist (before 1449 in Barnhart; mid-15th century in Etymonline).^[3][4]

Semantic evolution

In Middle English the word had several medical uses.^[9] It was reborrowed from Latin in 1661 for a film or cloudy spot on the eye,^[10][3][4] and later for cloudiness in the urine.^[2][11] The astronomical sense, a cloudlike patch in the heavens, is first recorded in 1718, used by Edmond Halley,^[9][8] or 1727–38 in the OED and Barnhart.^[10][3] As early as 1802 Herschel realized that some nebulae were star clusters,^[4] and the word was long used of galaxies beyond the Milky Way before astronomers distinguished nearby clouds of gas from distant galaxies.^[4][5][11] Kant first proposed the nebular hypothesis of the origin of the solar system.^[12]

Timeline

• before 1449 – nebule, a cloud or mist.^[3]
• 1661 – a film on the eye.^[10][3]
• 1718 – a cloudlike patch in the sky (Halley).^[9][8]
• 1727–38 – first quotation in the OED.^[10][3]
• 1837 – nebular hypothesis.^[3]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. (astronomy) A diffuse cloud of interstellar gas and dust, visible as a luminous patch or as a dark area against a brighter background.
2. (astronomy, dated) A galaxy, especially one beyond the Milky Way.
3. (pathology) A cloudy spot on the cornea; cloudiness in the urine.
4. A liquid medication applied as a spray.

Word family

• nebular
• nebulium
• Crab Nebula
• dark nebula
• diffuse nebula
• emission nebula
• planetary nebula
• reflection nebula

Related words

• nebulosity
• nebulous
• nebulizer
• Niflheim
• nimbus

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 h i j Barnhart, Robert K., ed. (1995), The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology, New York: HarperCollins
4. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
7. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
9. ^ a b c Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
10. ^ a b c d Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
11. ^ a b Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary (1999), 2nd ed., New York: Random House
12. ^ Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray