8/3/2019 Libra 27: An airplane hovering overhead

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Libra 27: An airplane hovering overhead

The word airplane i s a

compound. I ts modif ier , ai r ,

i s a d e r i v a t i v e o f t h e I nd o -

E u r o p e a n ( I E ) r o o t  wer-1  

which means “to raise , l i fe ,

h o l d s u s pend ed . ” 1 Pa r o ny m s

i nc l u d e aerial , aorta , ar ia ,

a r s i s  (the short or

u na c c e nt e d p a r t o f a

m e t r i c a l f o o t , e s p e c i a l l y i n qu a nt i t a t i v e v e r s e ) , artery , aura, malar ia ,

meteor , miniver  (a white or l ight gray fur used as a tr im on medieval

r o be s a nd o n c e r e m o ni a l r o be s o f s t a t e ) , vair   (a fur , probably squirrel ,

m u c h u s e d i n m e d i e v a l t i m e s t o l i ne a nd t r i m r o be s ) , variety , var ious ,

v a r y , w a r bl e  ( a n a bs c e s s e d bo i l - l i ke s w e l l i ng o n t h e ba c k o f c a t t l e , d e e r ,

and certain other animals , caused by the larva of a warble f ly ) , a nd wart .

The head of the compound is plane . I t descends from the IE root   pele-

2  which means “f lat ; to spread.”2

I ts paronyms include explain, f ie ld ,f l o o r , p a l m , p i a no , p l a ne t , p l a ni s h   (to make smooth or plane) , p l a s m a  

( color less watery f luid of blood and lymph containing no cel ls and in

which erythrocytes and leukocytes and platelets are suspended) , plast ic ,

 polka, a nd veldt (  any of the open grazing areas of southern Afr ica ) .

The word hover descends from the Middle Engl ish hoveren , "hover ,

t a r r y , l i ng e r " c h i e f ly u s e d a t f i r s t t o d e s c r i be s h i p s s t a nd i ng o f f o f a

c o a s t .3 

The word over  descends from the IE root   uper, which means “over”

and from which also descend the words s o v e r e i g n, s u p e r , s u p e r - , s u p r a - ,

1 http://web.archive.org/web/20080211183126/www.bartleby.com/61/roots/IE570.html

2 http://web.archive.org/web/20080211183126/www.bartleby.com/61/roots/IE391.html

3 http://education.yahoo.com/reference/dictionary/entry/hover

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s u p e r b , s u p e r i o r , s u p r e m e , s u r - , s i r l o i n , s u p e r na l , s u m , s u m m i t , s o p r a no ,  

a nd somersault . 4  

Th e w o r d head descends from the IE root   kaput- (head) , as do the

words c a p r i c e , a c h i e v e , b i c e p s , c a d d i e , c a d e t , c a p i t a l , c a p i t o l , c a p i t u l a t e ,

captain, catt le , chapter , chef , chief , corporal , head, kerchief , a nd

mischief . 5  

THEMES: O ne c l e a r t h e m e a m o ng t h e a bo v e w o r d s i s SPATIAL

ORIENTATION , na m e l y t h e v e r t i c a l a nd h o r i zo nt a l d i m e ns i o ns o f s p a c e .

With the keyword overhead we clear ly get a sense of the vert ical

dimension. The word over   d es c end s f r o m a r o o t t h at m eans “o v er ” , i . e .

“ in or at a posi t ion above or hi gher than.” 6 Several derivat ives of this

root also connote this idea. One of the many def ini t ions of the word head  

refers to the uppermost part of the human body. 7 

Whi le airplanes are obviously associated with the vert ical dimension

as wel l , the word  plane  i s a s s o c i a t e d w i t h f l a t ne s s a nd t h e h o r i zo nt a l

dimension of space. S imi lar ly , the word hover  was ini t ial ly used to

describe ships standing of f of a coast  — a more lateral than vert ical

o r i e nt a t i o n s i nc e t h e s h i p w o u l d be , by d e f i ni t i o n , a t s e a l e v e l .  

4 Watkins, C. (2000), The American Heritage Dictionary of Indo European Roots, p. 94

5 Watkins, C. (2000), The American Heritage Dictionary of Indo European Roots, p. 37

6 http://education.yahoo.com/reference/dictionary/entry/over

7 http://education.yahoo.com/reference/dictionary/entry/head