An Etymological Dictionary of Astronomy and Astrophysics

The Chemical Furnace. A faint → constellation in the southern sky, representing a chemist’s furnace. Its brightest star, Alpha Fornacis, is a double of magnitudes 4.0 and 6.5. Abbreviation: For; genitive: Fornacis.

Etymology (EN): L. fornax “oven, kiln,” related to fornus, furnus “oven,” and to formus “warm,” from PIE base *ghworm-/*ghwerm- “warm” (cf. Mod./Mid.Pers. garm “warm;” O.Pers./Av. garəma- “hot, warm;” Skt. gharmah “heat;” Gk. thermos “warm;” cf. O.E. wearm; O.H.G., Ger. warm).

Fornax was created and named by Abbé Nicolas Louis de Lacaille (1713-1762) in honor of Antoine Lavoisier, the French chemist, who was guillotined in the French Revolution in 1794. He created it out of several faint stars in the constellation → Eridanus.

Etymology (PE): Kuré “furnace;” Tabari kalə “furnace,” kəlen “ash;” Laki koira; Kurd. kulan, kulandan “to cook;”
Laki koira; Kurd. kulan, kulandan “to cook;” related to garm “warm;” cf. Skt. ghar- “to burn;” E. kiln “furnace, oven,” from L. culina “cooking stove, kitchen;” PIE root *gwher- “to warm, be warm,” → warm.