satellite

Pronunciation

• IPA: UK /ˈsæt.əl.aɪt/, /ˈsæt.ɪ.laɪt/, US /ˈsæt̬.əl.aɪt/^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Middle French satellite and directly borrowed from Latin satelles (“attendant, bodyguard, courtier”) (accusative satellitem),^[2][3][4][5] which in Cicero often meant an accomplice in a crime.^[3] The Latin word is of unknown origin:^[3] Barnhart, Klein and MWU suggest an Etruscan source,^[2][3][5] and Tucker a compound meaning “one who goes along”.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

An attendant on a person of importance: before 1548 in Barnhart and the OED;^[2][6] rare before the late 18th century, and usually with a note of subservience or fawning.^[3][4][7]

Semantic evolution

In 1611 Kepler, writing in Latin, called the moons of Jupiter, newly discovered by Galileo, satellites, as attendants on the planet;^[2][7][3] Galileo himself had named them Sidera Medicea after the Medici.^[3] In English a satellite of Jupiter is from 1665,^[2][6][7] and the figurative use from 1771.^[6] A country dependent on and subservient to another is from 1776 in the OED and by 1800 in Etymonline, in John Adams.^[6][3] A man-made object put into orbit is from 1936 in theory, after an imaginary projectile in a translation of Jules Verne,^[2][7] and it became fact in 1957.^[3] The OED has an 1880 use for a designed artificial body.^[6] The verb, to transmit by satellite, is from 1974.^[6]

Timeline

• before 1548 – an attendant.^[2][6]
• 1611 – Kepler's satellites of Jupiter, in Latin.^[2]
• 1665 – a moon of a planet.^[2][6]
• 1776 – a dependent country.^[6]
• 1936 – an artificial satellite, in theory.^[2][3]
• 1957 – the first real artificial satellite.^[3]
• 1974 – to transmit by satellite.^[6]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. A natural body that orbits a planet; a moon.
2. A man-made object put into orbit around the earth or another body, as for communications.
3. A country controlled by a more powerful one.
4. A follower of an important person, especially a subservient one.
5. Something, such as a town or office, that depends on a larger one nearby.

Verb

1. To transmit by satellite.

Word family

• satellited
• antisatellite
• biosatellite
• satelloid
• subsatellite
• direct broadcast satellite
• communications satellite
• satellite cell

Related words

• satellite dish
• orbit
• moon

References

1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b c d Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press