Etymologically
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nebula

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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
  • 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