What's in a word - Astronaut

8 Mar 2020

What’s in a word – Astronaut

What’s in a word – AstronautWe read news about astronauts frequently, such as NASA hiring new astronauts. It was also the first cosmonaut (astronaut) Yuri Gagarin's birth anniversary yesterday.

An astronaut is a person who has been trained for travelling in space.

So, what is the origin of the word 'astronaut'?

'Astronaut' comes from the Greek words ástron, meaning 'star', and nautes, meaning 'sailor'. So, literally, a "star sailor".
 	The first known use of the term 'astronaut' to mean a space traveller, was by Neil R. Jones in his 1930 short story The Death's Head Meteor.
 	 'Astronaut' was also the name of a fictional spaceship in a short story Across the Zodiac written in 1880.

What about the term 'cosmonaut'?

Russia's space agency Roscosmos uses the term 'cosmonaut' for their astronauts.
 	'Cosmonaut' is a modification of the Russian word kosmonavt (space traveller).
 	The term 'cosmonaut' also comes from Greek - kosmos meaning 'universe', and nautes (sailor).

As you can see, both the English and Russian terms have similar origins with just one small difference.

What about other countries?

While most countries today use 'astronaut' or a slightly different version of the word, some countries do have their own terms.
 	For example, Chinese astronauts are called 'taikonauts'. It is a new type of word, which combines the Chinese word tàikōng meaning 'space' and the Greek nautes (sailor).
 	Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has also come up with 'vyomanauts', coined from the Sanskrit word vyoman (meaning 'sky' or 'space').

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