Etymograph

English

planet

Planet comes from Old French planete, from Latin planēta, from Greek πλανήτης ‘wanderer’, from πλανάω ‘to wander’, of unknown origin.

  1. Ancient Greekc. 800–300 BCEπλανάωplanáō‘wander about’
  2. Ancient Greek, derivedc. 800–300 BCEπλανήτηςplanḗtēs‘wanderer’
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEplaneta
  4. Old Frenchc. 842–1400planete
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500same form‘planet’
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1603planet

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed

Lineage

  1. Ancient Greekc. 800–300 BCEπλανάωplanáō‘wander about’
  2. Ancient Greek, derivedc. 800–300 BCEπλανήτηςplanḗtēs‘wanderer’
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEplaneta
  4. Old Frenchc. 842–1400planete
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500same form‘planet’
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1603planet

Earliest quotation: 1603, Michel de Montaigne, The Essayes […]: “Be they not dreames of humane vanity,[…]to make of…”

The story

From Middle English planete, from Old French planete, from Latin planeta, planetes, from Ancient Greek πλανήτης (planḗtēs, “wanderer”) (itself an ellipsis of ἀστέρες πλανῆται (astéres planêtai, “wandering stars”)), from Ancient Greek πλανάω (planáō, “wander about, stray”), of unknown origin.uncertain The source flags this step as uncertain. So called because they have apparent motion, unlike the "fixed" stars. Originally including also the moon and sun but not the Earth; modern scientific sense of "world that orbits a star" is from 1630s in English. The Greek word is an enlarged form of πλάνης (plánēs, “who wanders around, wanderer”), also "wandering star, planet", in medicine "unstable temperature."

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *pleh₂- ‘flat, broad’

field, floor, explain, palm, explanation, plain, clan, archipelago, fluke, parma, explanatory, flounder, placenta, playa, lech, polonium, pelagic, palatine, planar, placate, veld, implacable, esplanade, flay, floe, purdah, plantar, llano, planta, 49 more

through Ancient Greek πλανάω ‘wander about, stray’

aeroplane, 6 more

Today it means

noun Each of the seven major bodies which move relative to the fixed stars in the night sky—the Moon, Mercury, Venus, the Sun, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn.

Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.

Etymograph / Ancient Greek πλανάω / planet

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