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Betelgeuse - 4 dictionary results
Be⋅tel⋅geuse
[beet-l-jooz, bet-l-jœz] 
–noun Astronomy.
| a first-magnitude red supergiant in the constellation Orion. |
Also, Be⋅tel⋅geux.
Origin:
1790–1800; < F < Ar bīt al jauzāʾ shoulder of the giant (i.e., of Orion)
1790–1800; < F < Ar bīt al jauzāʾ shoulder of the giant (i.e., of Orion)
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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Link To Betelgeuse
| Be·tel·geuse (bēt'l-jōōz', bět'l-jɶz') n. A bright-red intrinsic variable star, 527 light-years from Earth, in the constellation Orion. [French Bételgeuse, ultimately from Arabic yad al-jawzā' : yad, hand; see yd in Semitic roots + al-, the + jawzā', Gemini (later also used for Orion); perhaps akin to jawz, center, middle.] Word History: The history of the curious star name Betelgeuse is a good example of how scholarly errors can creep into language. The story starts with the pre-Islamic Arabic astronomers, who called the star yad al-jawzā', "hand of the jawzā'." The jawzā' was their name for the constellation Gemini. After Greek astronomy became known to the Arabs, the word came to be applied to the constellation Orion as well. Some centuries later, when scribes writing in Medieval Latin tried to render the word, they misread the y as a b (the two corresponding Arabic letters are very similar when used as the first letter in a word), leading to the Medieval Latin form Bedalgeuze. In the Renaissance, another set of scholars trying to figure out the name interpreted the first syllable bed- as being derived from a putative Arabic word *bāṭ meaning "armpit." This word did not exist; it would correctly have been ibṭ. Nonetheless, the error stuck, and the resultant etymologically "improved" spelling Betelgeuse was borrowed into French as Bételgeuse, whence English Betelgeuse. |
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Betelgeuse
bright star in the shoulder of Orion, 1515, from Ar. Ibt al Jauzah "the Armpit of the Central One."
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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Betelgeuse (bēt'l-j z') Pronunciation Key
A red supergiant star in the constellation Orion. It is a variable star with a brightest apparent magnitude of 0.5. Scientific name: Alpha Orionis. See Note at Rigel. |
The American Heritage® Science Dictionary
Copyright © 2002. Published by Houghton Mifflin. All rights reserved.
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Copyright © 2002. Published by Houghton Mifflin. All rights reserved.
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