English
atlas
Atlas comes from Latin Atlas, and goes back to Proto-Indo-European *telh₂-.
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*telh₂-root as named
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEAtlas
- Englishearliest quotation 1734atlas
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
Lineage
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*telh₂-root as named
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEAtlas
- Englishearliest quotation 1734atlas
Earliest quotation: 1734, William Stukeley, Of the Gout: “There are of these glands upon the first vertebra…”
The story
The sense referring to books of maps comes from the Atlas of Mercator, which he named thus in honor of Atlas, who was supposed to be skillful in astronomy and the doctrine of the sphere. The sense referring to the vertebra reflects that the spine carries the globe of the cranium (the neck carries the head).
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *telh₂-
talent, toll, tolerance, tolerate, tolerant, intolerable, tolerable, toleration, extol, tellurium, 17 more
Another origin of atlas
- Arabicc. 500–presentأَطْلَسʔaṭlas‘satin’
- Englishtodayatlas
Today it means
noun A bound collection of maps often including tables, illustrations or other text.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *telh₂- / atlas