μετεωρολογία

Forms

μετεωρολογίᾱ (meteōrologíā) f (genitive μετεωρολογίᾱς); first declension^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Ancient Greek μετέωρος (metéōros, “raised up, in the air”) + -λογία (-logía, “discourse, study”), from μετέωρα (metéōra, “things in the sky, celestial phenomena”), the neuter plural of the adjective.^[1][2] It is the abstract noun that goes with μετεωρολόγος (meteōrológos, “one who discusses celestial phenomena”).^[3][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The earliest example is in Plato's Phaedrus, where “idle talk and discussion of things aloft” is said to be needed by every great art.^[5][6]

Semantic evolution

In Plato and in Plutarch's Pericles the word can carry a slighting sense of lofty speculation about the heavens, which they associate with Anaxagoras.^[7][5] Aristotle uses it at the opening of his Meteorologica as the name of a branch of the study of nature, and Philo has it both as a neutral term and in a bad sense.^[5][6] Later Christian writers also used it of elevated discourse.^[4]

Modern Greek μετεωρολογία (meteorología), the science of the atmosphere and the weather, is a learned word taken from French météorologie, which goes back to the ancient term.^[8][9] The English word meteorology is recorded from the 1610s, from French and directly from Greek.^[2]

Timeline

• 5th to 4th century BC – Plato's Phaedrus uses it of discussion of things in the sky.^[5][6]
• 4th century BC – Aristotle uses it for the study of celestial and atmospheric phenomena.^[5][6]
• 1st century BC to 1st century AD – Philo uses it, once in a bad sense.^[5][6]
• 1st to 2nd century AD – Plutarch's Pericles links it with Anaxagoras.^[7][3]
• 1610s – The English word meteorology is first recorded.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. Discussion or study of celestial and atmospheric phenomena; meteorology.^[5][7][3]
2. (pejorative) high-flown speculation about the heavens.^[7][5]
3. (Christian) Elevated discourse.^[4][10]

Related words

• μετέωρος (metéōros)
• μετεωρολόγος (meteōrológos)
• English meteorology
• French météorologie

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ a b c Bailly, Anatole (2020), Dictionnaire grec-français, Bailly 2020 Hugo Chávez ed., ed. Gérard Gréco et al.
4. ^ a b c Malhadas, Daisi; Dezotti, Maria Celeste C.; Neves, Maria Helena de Moura, eds. (2006–2010), Dicionário Grego-Português, São Paulo: Ateliê; digital ed. 3 (2022), UNESP Araraquara
5. ^ a b c d e f g h Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b c d e Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux
7. ^ a b c d Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
8. ^ Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
9. ^ Πάπυρος–Larousse–Britannica, Μέγα Λεξικό της Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, Athens: Πάπυρος
10. ^ Korinthios, J. (2025), Grande Dizionario Greco Classico: Greco–Italiano, digital ed., Milan: Hoepli