An Etymological Dictionary of Astronomy and Astrophysics

The Painter’s Easel. A faint constellation in the southern hemisphere, at 5h 30m right ascension, 50° south declination. Its brightest star is of magnitude 3.2. Its second brightest star, → beta Pictoris, is famous for its → circumstellar disk of gas and dust. Abbreviation: Pic; genitive: Pictoris.

Etymology (EN): Pictor, short for Equuleus Pictoris “painter’s easel,” from L. pictor “painter,” from pingere “to make pictures.”

Etymology (PE): Negârgar “painter,” from negâr present stem of negâštan “to paint,” negâr “picture, figure,” from prefix ne- “down; into”
(O.Pers./Av. ni- “down; into;” cf.
Skt. ni “down,” nitaram “downward;” Gk. neiothen “from below;” E. nether; O.E. niþera, neoþera “down, downward, below, beneath,” from P.Gmc. *nitheraz;
Du. neder; Ger. nieder; PIE *ni- “down, below”) + gâr, from kar-, kardan “to do, to make” (Mid.Pers. kardan; O.Pers./Av. kar- “to do, make, build;” Av. kərənaoiti “he makes;” cf. Skt. kr- “to do, to make,” krnoti “he makes, he does,” karoti “he makes, he does,” karma “act, deed;” PIE base k^wer- “to do, to make”).