An Etymological Dictionary of Astronomy and Astrophysics
English-French-Persian

A suffix forming a noun meaning "healing, medical practice." Same as → -iatry.

From -iatr(y), from Gk. iateria "heling," iatros "heal", + → -ics.

Pezeški, → medicine, darmâni, from darmân, → remedy.

A suffix of nouns that denotes science, knowledge, principles, characteristic actions or activities, such as → physics, → statistics, → ballistics, politics, ethics. See also → -logy.

Suffix -ics, from -ic + plural suffix -s, from O.Fr. -ique, from L. -icus, Gk. -ikos; cf. O.E. -ig, from P.Gmc. *-iga, Ger. -ig.

Mod.Pers. -ik, from Mid.Pers. -ik or -ig, possibly from the Av. noun and adjective forming suffix -ika, -ka, -aka (as in ainika- "face," maršdika- "mercy," pairikā- "fairy," kasvika- "trifling," kutaka- "small," ahmāka- "ours"). In Mid.Pers. it had an extensive use for creating adjectives of relation. Some examples:
cihrik, cihrig "natural," from cihr (Mod.Pers. cehr);
gohrik, gohrig "natural, essential," from gohr (Mod.Pers. gowhar);
gumânik, gumânig "doubtful," from gumân (Mod.Pers. gomân);
kunišnik "doable, related to action," from konišn (Mod.Pers. koneš);
mânik, mânig "household belonging, household member," from mân (Mod.Pers. mân);
manik "mine, related to me," from man (Mod.Pers. man);
narik "related to male," from nar (Mod.Pers. nar);
xvartik, xwarišnig "edible," from xvart, xwarišn (Mod.Pers. xord, xoreš);
gâsânik, gâhânig "related to the Gathas (the oldest songs of the Avesta, which are attributed to Zarathushtra himself)," from gâsân (Mod.Pers. gâhân);
dâtik, dâdig "legal, concerned with the law," from dât (Mod.Pers. dâd).

Although it has changed into -i in Mod.Pers. (like O.E. -ig into E. -y, as in juicy, dreamy), it is extant in a number of adjectives: târik "dark;" nazdik "near;" bârik "narrow;" zandik (Arabicized zandiq) "heretic;" Monjik (Termezi), pen name of an 11th century Persian poet, from monj "honeybee," referring to his poems being as sweet as honey. The suffix is active in the Tabari dialect, as in larzenik "subject to fear, full of fear, timorous, fearful," ramendik "timid, fugitive," xordinik "very small," bermendik, bərmənik "person who cries easily, highly sensitive person," from bərmən "cry," and also appears as -ij in yušij "related to, belong to Yuš (a famous village in Mâzandarân)," and in the dialect of Boyin-Zahra dehij "villager, peasant, rustic" from deh "village." In recent years -ik has been reactivated in technical terminology to render E. -ics (Fr. -ique, Ger. -ik), as in the following examples: âvâyik "phonetics;" farmânik "cybernetics;" ma'nâyik "semantics;" nurik "optics;" partâbik "ballistics;" tavânik, niruyik "dynamics;" zabânik "linguistics."

The revival of -ik is interesting for several reasons, mainly:
a) In the European scientific terminology, branches of science are denoted by two suffixes:
1) -logy, as in biology, geology, mineralogy, etc. The Pers. counterpart of this suffix is the widely used -šenâsi, → -logy;
2) -ics, as in biotics, dynamics, kinematics, mathematics, etc. Lacking a Pers. equivalent until recently, -ics was equated with -logy. However, the Pers. suffix -ik produces helpful semantic nuances and allows us new constructions from the same base, for example:
→ biology "zistšenâsi;"
→ biotics "zistik."
b) Moreover, in some cases -ik is more efficient than -šenâsi. For example, if we translate ballistics by partâbšenâsi, how should we render ballistic missile? Mušak-e partâbšenâsi, mušak-e partâbšenâxti, or mušak-e partâbšenâsâné? All these possibilities seem unfitting, and no matter which adjective we choose among them the problem remains. The reason is that here ballistic does not really refer to the science (-šenâsi) but points to the action of throwing, → ballistic missile. This problem can be turned around using -ik: mušak-e partâbik.
c) It is not phonetically straightforward in Pers. to make adjectives with the -i suffix from words which end in -i, in particular with -šenâsi. The use of -ik solves this problem and produces adjectives which themselves do not end in -i, for example → astronomical unit "yekâ-ye axtaršnâsik" instead of "~ axtaršnâxti".

1) The study of sound, especially of its generation, propagation, and reception.
2) Those qualities of an enclosure that together determine its character with respect to distinct hearing.

From Fr. acoustique, from Gk. akoustikos "pertaining to hearing," from akoustos "heard, audible," from akouein "to hear," from copulative prefix a- + koein "to mark, perceive, hear," from PIE root *(s)keu- "to notice, observe."

Sedâyik from sedâ "sound" + Pers. suffix -ik, → -ics. Sedâ is most probably Persian, since it exists also in Indo-Aryan languages: Skt. (late Vedic): sabda "articulate sound, noise," Pali and Prakriti: sadda "sound, noise," Sindhi: sadu, sado "shout, call," Gujrâti sad "call, voice, echo," Marathi: sad "shouting to," Konkani sad "sound," Sinhali: sada "sound." Therefore, sadâ in Arabic "reverbrating noise, echo" may be borrowed from Persian, or a coincidence. Note that for the author of the classical Persian dictionary Borhân-e Qâte' (India, 1652 A.D.), the Arabic term is a loanword from Persian.

→ phone; →phonetics.

A technique for improving the → resolving power of a telescope by controlling the shape of the main mirror at a relatively slow rate. The → image quality is optimized automatically through constant adjustments by in-built corrective → actuators operating at fairly low temporal frequency ~0.05 Hz or less. → adaptive optics.

→ active; → optics.

A technique for improving the → image quality of a telescope against → atmospheric turbulence in which image distortions are compensated by high-speed changes in the shape of a small, thin mirror. → wavefront; → wavefront distortion; → wavefront correction; → Strehl ratio; → tip-tilt mirror, → Shack-Hartmann wavefront sensor, → active optics.

→ adaptive; → optics.

An → adaptive optics instrument used on the → European Southern Observatory (ESO) 3.6-m telescope at La Silla. It was an upgraded version of COME-ON-PLUS, the → Very Large Telescope (VLT) adaptive optics prototype. It had 52 → actuators and performed corrections of the mirror 200 times per second. The reference → wavefront was sensed in the → visible. The observation was done in the → near-infrared (1-5 μm).

→ adaptive; → optics; → near-infrared; → system.

An → optical system that uses → adaptive optics.

→ adaptive; → optics; → system.

The science that is concerned with the study of the → motion of → air and other gaseous → fluids and with the → forces acting on bodies moving through such fluids.

Aerodynamics, from Gk. aero-, → air, + → dynamics.

The science and technology concerned with designing, constructing, and operating machines capable of flying in the atmosphere.

From aeronautic, from Fr. aéronautique, from aéro-, from Gk. aer, → air, + nautique "of ships," from L. nauticus, from Gk. nautikos, from naus "ship" (cognate with Mod.Pers. nâv "ship;" Av./O.Pers. *nāv-, O.Pers. nāviyā- "fleet;" Skt. nau-, nava- "ship, boat;" Gk. naus, neus, L. navis; PIE *nāu- "ship").

Havânavardi, from havâ, → air, + navardi, verbal noun of navardidan "to travel, walk, pass by and over."

1) The branch of philosophy dealing with such notions as the beautiful, the ugly, the sublime, the comic, etc., as applicable to the fine arts, with a view to establishing the meaning and validity of critical judgments concerning works of art, and the principles underlying or justifying such judgments.
2) The study of the mind and emotions in relation to the sense of beauty (Dictionary.com).

From Ger. Ästhetisch or Fr. esthétique, both from Gk. aisthetikos "sensitive, perceptive," from aisthanesthai "to perceive, to feel."

Zibâyik, from zibâ "beautiful, elegant, adorned," → beauty, + -ik, → -ics.

A branch of → mechanics based on → variational principle that describes systems by their → Lagrangian or → Hamiltonian. Analytical mechanics provides a formalism that is different from that of Newton and does not use the concept of force. Among other things, analytical mechanics gives a more simple description of continuous and constrained systems. Moreover, its mathematical structure allows it an easier transition to quantum mechanical topics.

→ analytical; → mechanics.

A set of topics in physics intended for a particular or practical use. Applied physics programs are usually interfaces between pure physics and technology.

Past participle of → apply; → physics.

The science dealing with the motion of satellites, rockets, and spacecrafts. It uses the principles of celestial mechanics.

Astrodynamics, from → astro- "star" + → dynamics.

Axtartavânik, from axtar, → astro-, + tavânik, → dynamics.

The science and technology of space flight, including the building and operation of space vehicles.

→ astronaut.

The area of science which deals with → elementary particle and → high-energy phenomena in → astrophysics and → cosmology.

→ astro-; → particle; → physics.

The branch of → astronomy that deals with the → physics of → celestial objects and the → Universe in general. It relies on the assumption that the → laws of physics apply everywhere in the Universe and throughout all time. See also → observational astrophysics, → theoretical astrophysics.

Astrophysics, from → astro- "star" + → physics. The first use of the term astrophysics has been attributed to Johann Karl Friedrich Zöllner (1834-1882) in 1865. He defined it as a coalescence of physics and chemistry with astronomy (History of Astronomy: An Encyclopedia, ed. John Lankford, Routledge, 1997).

The science of the motion and behavior of → projectiles. The study of the functioning of firearms.

From L. ballista "ancient military machine for hurling stones," from Gk. ballistes, from ballein "to throw," from PIE *g^welH₁- "to throw;" cf. Pers. garzin "arrow;" Av. niγr- "to throw down;" Khotanese (+ *abi-, *ui-) bīr- "to throw, sow;" Proto-Iranian *garH- "to throw."

Partâbik, from partâb "a throw, an arrow that flies far," partâbidan "to throw," + -ik, → -ics; partâbšenâsi, from partâb + -šenâsi, → -logy.

A statistics based on a → biased sample.

→ biased; → statistics.

The retrieval and analysis of biochemical and biological data using mathematics and computer science, as in the study of genomes (Dictionary.com).

→ bio-; → informatics.

The science that deals with biological structures and processes involving the application of physical principles and methods.

Biophysics, from → bio- + → physics.

Zistfizik, from zist-, → bio- + fizik→ physics.