What does equinox mean in latin

English Language Learners Definition of equinox. Kids Definition of equinox. Get Word of the Day daily email! Test Your Vocabulary. Can you spell these 10 commonly misspelled words? Love words? Need even more definitions?

Just between us: it's complicated. Ask the Editors 'Everyday' vs. What Is 'Semantic Bleaching'? How 'literally' can mean "figuratively". Literally How to use a word that literally drives some pe Is Singular 'They' a Better Choice? The awkward case of 'his or her'. Take the quiz. You only see half of that sphere at once, and if you've ever been to a planetarium , this is a good approximation of what the celestial sphere looks like from earth: a concave half-dome with us at the center.

Astronomers in the ancient world knew that the position and movement of the stars and constellations on the celestial sphere changed throughout one solar year. Without knowing about the tilt of the earth, or its orbit in relation to the sun and other planets, they attempted to make sense of what they saw, and how they did that was to track the movement of the constellations in comparison with the sun and the moon.

They needed a "zero point" from which they could measure the movement of the stars, and they chose the vernal equinox as that starting point.

These measurements were vital for accurate navigation and helping chart things like weather, and we see that in the Latin uses of aequinoctium. Julius Caesar notes in his firsthand account of the Gallic Wars that he took the equinox into consideration when planning sea forays into Gaul, and Cicero writes, "If Publius is waiting for the equinox, as you say Aledius tells you, then he must be going by sea.

But he told me he was going by way of Sicily" Cicero, Atticus Winstedt, It goes without saying that stargazing is a lot easier to do at night than during the day, and given the importance of the stars in Roman life, it's not surprising that they chose to highlight the night in naming the equinox.

English borrowed the name in the 14th century, when it was first used in an astronomical treatise written by Geoffrey Chaucer.

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How to pronounce equinox? Alex US English. David US English. Mark US English. Daniel British. Libby British. Mia British. Karen Australian. Hayley Australian. Natasha Australian. Veena Indian. Priya Indian. Neerja Indian. Zira US English. Oliver British. Wendy British.