Of meteors and prognosticators

Well, naturally, some meteorologists study meteors, in their spare time. But that’s not the focus of their work. They study weather. So, if a meteor is a rock crashing into the atmosphere from space, why is a weather expert called a meteorologist? 

How the word meteor got to be used to describe weather bugged me enough to make me look it up. (I seriously need to get out more.)

The word derives from Greek, ta meteōra, meaning things in heaven above. By the 15th century CE, the word meteor was being used in English to describe anything that happened in the sky. Wind was formally known as aerial meteors. Snow, rain and hail, aqueous meteors. Aurora and rainbows, luminous meteors. What we call meteors today fell into the category igneous meteors, which also included lightning.

And this bit of research killed two birds. It cleared up the reason (for Pete’s sake) we say meteoric rise, when in fact meteors fall from the sky at thousands of miles an hour? Back to the original word, meaning stuff, up there.

End of story.

Wait! If weather experts are meteorologists, then what the heck do you call somebody who studies meteors? Formally, a meteoricist, from meteorics, the study of meteors. But few meteor scientists use that term. They just call themselves astronomers.

End of end of story.

=SE

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