Exhibit展品
asteroid
/ˈæstərɔɪd/
Why call a rock star-like?为什么把一块石头叫作像星一样？
Today此刻
A small rocky body orbiting the sun, mostly between Mars and Jupiter.绕太阳运行的小型岩石天体，大多在火星与木星之间。
Historical历史形态
Take it apart拆开来看
The shape is Greek: a star, plus a suffix of likeness. The astronomical use is modern. Herschel proposed the name in 1802.形状来自希腊语：一颗星，加上表示相似的后缀。作为天文学名称是现代的事。赫歇尔在 1802 年提出这个名字。
Travel through time穿过时间
Greek希腊语
asteroeidēs
star-like像星
English · 1802英语 · 1802
asteroid
a small planetary body一颗小型行星体
William Herschel proposed the term for these bodies.威廉·赫歇尔提议用这个词称呼这些天体。
How the meaning moved意义如何移动
01 · Greek01 · 希腊语
star-like像星
02 · English since 180202 · 1802 年以来的英语
a minor planet, a rocky body of the solar system一颗小行星，太阳系里的岩石天体
Story故事
A likeness, then a name先是一个相似，然后才是一个名字
Greek asteroeidēs means star-like, having the form of a star. The adjective is older than the astronomical class. In 1802 William Herschel proposed asteroid as the name for the newly found bodies that were neither quite planets nor quite stars.
The look came first. Through a telescope those bodies could seem star-like: points, not discs. The name kept the appearance and gave it to a kind of object. Later astronomy filled in the rocks, the orbits, and the belt. The word still says “like a star,” which is a description of a glimpse, not of the geology.
It belongs with astronomy as a modern naming, and with disaster only because both remember a star. One star brings bad luck. The other is a resemblance.
希腊语 asteroeidēs 的意思是像星，具有星的形状。这个形容词比那一类天体更老。1802 年，威廉·赫歇尔提议用 asteroid 命名那些新发现的天体：它们既不完全是行星，也不完全是恒星。
先有的是看上去的样子。在望远镜里，那些天体可以像星：是点，不是圆面。名字留下了这副样子，并把它交给一类物体。后来的天文学补上了岩石、轨道和小行星带。这个词说的仍是“像一颗星”，那是对一瞥的描述，不是地质学。
它和 astronomy 同属一种现代命名，和 disaster 相聚只因为两者都记得一颗星。一颗星带来坏运气。另一颗只是一个相似。
Keep wandering继续漫游
Research notes研究笔记
Confidence · High把握 · 高
The outline is the ordinary account in historical dictionaries.轮廓与历史词典里的通行说法一致。
Sources出处
An outline for the visitor, not a critical edition.给访客的纲要，不是校勘本。