delta English · revision 7594

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=c. 1200|origins=grc δέλτα}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /ˈdɛltə/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[bor|grc|δέλτα|tr=délta]], the name of the fourth letter of the Greek alphabet,^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline)^(MWU 2024) which is of Semitic origin: compare Phoenician and Hebrew dāleth, from deleth, door, originally drawn as the door of a tent.^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline)^(Hoad 1986)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ The name of the Greek letter: probably about 1200, in the ''Ormulum''.^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ The letter was shaped like a triangle, and Herodotus used the name for the triangular land at the mouth of the Nile, a sense introduced into Greek in the 400s BC.^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988) The Delta of the Nile is so called in English from 1555 (the 1550s),^(Barnhart 1988)^(OED 1989) and other river mouths of whatever shape by 1790.^(Etymonline)^(OED 1989) Any triangular figure is from 1638.^(OED 1989) An examiner's fourth-class mark is from 1911,^(OED 1989) and in electrical equipment a triangular arrangement of three-phase windings from 1902.^(OED 1989) Word Origins notes that the delta wing of jet aircraft was named immediately after the Second World War.^(Cresswell 2021)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 1200 – the Greek letter.^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * 1555 – the Nile Delta.^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * 1638 – a triangular figure.^(OED 1989)

+ * 1790 – any river delta.^(OED 1989)

+ * 1902 – in electrical engineering.^(OED 1989)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Noun===

+ # The fourth [[letter]] of the Greek [[alphabet]] (Δ, δ).^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # A flat, usually triangular area of [[alluvium|alt=alluvial]] land at the mouth of a river.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # An object shaped like a triangle.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # ''(mathematics)'' A finite increment in a variable.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[deltaic]]

+ * [[delta connection]]

+ * [[delta iron]]

+ * [[delta particle]]

+ * [[delta ray]]

+ * [[delta wave]]

+ * [[delta wing]]

+ * [[Dirac delta function]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[deltoid]]

+ * [[daleth]]

+ * [[alphabet]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}