English
dynamite
Dynamite comes from Ancient Greek δύναμις ‘power’.
- Ancient Greekc. 800–300 BCEδύναμιςdúnamis‘power’
- Englishearliest quotation 1954dynamite
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
Lineage
- Ancient Greekc. 800–300 BCEδύναμιςdúnamis‘power’
- Englishearliest quotation 1954dynamite
Earliest quotation: 1954, Trevor Holloway, Canada's Transcontinental Railway: “Gradually the construction gangs cut and dynamited their way…”
Formed from -ite
The story
Coined by Alfred Nobel in 1867.
Linked words
through Ancient Greek δύναμις ‘power’
thermodynamic, hydrodynamic, psychodynamic, hemodynamic, biodynamic, 57 more
Today it means
noun A class of explosives made from nitroglycerine in an absorbent medium such as kieselguhr, used in mining and blasting.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Ancient Greek δύναμις / dynamite