Science, ideas & the arts

cosmonaut

Soviet Russian built kosmonavt from two Greek words, kosmos 'universe' and nautes 'sailor', for its space travellers, while French and American English had already built astronaut ('star-sailor') from the same sailor. After Gagarin's flight in 1961 cosmonaut spread to French, German and the languages of the Eastern Bloc.

Weakest linkCertain

The road to English

From Ancient Greek to French, American English

From Russian to French

From Russian to German

From Russian to Czech

From Russian to Polish

From Russian to Bulgarian

From Russian to Spanish

500 BCEAncient Greek

Hops are evenly spaced; labels show the year each form is first attested.