mid-15c., "of, pertaining to, or determined by the sun," from Latin solaris "of the sun," from sol "sun" (from PIE root *sawel- "the sun"). Meaning "living room on an upper story" (also sollar) is from Old English, from Latin solarium (see solarium). For "of or proceeding from the sun," the earlier word was Old English sunlic, Middle English sonneli. Solific (1550s) also has been used.
The meaning "operated by means of the sun or its heat" is from 1740; solar power is attested from 1915, solar cell as a photovoltaic device from 1955, solar panel, designed to absorb the sun's rays, is from 1964. The astronomical solar system "sun and the bodies revolving round or dependent on it" is attested from c. 1704; solar wind is so called from 1958.
Solar plexus (1771) "complex of nerves in the pit of the stomach," apparently so called from its central position in the body (see plexus).
1610s, "the whole creation, the universe," from Late Latin systema "an arrangement, system," from Greek systēma "organized whole, a whole compounded of parts," from stem of synistanai "to place together, organize, form in order," from syn- "together" (see syn-) + root of histanai "cause to stand" (from PIE root *sta- "to stand, make or be firm"). The notion is "a combination or assemblage of parts or things forming or adjusted as a regular and connected whole."
The meaning "set of correlated principles, facts, ideas, etc." is attested by 1630s. The meaning "animal body as an organized whole, sum of the vital processes in an organism" is recorded from 1680s; hence the figurative phrase get (something) out of (one's) system, attested by 1900.
By 1680s as "group of bodies moving together in space, bound by laws of dynamics," as the sun and its planets. The computer sense of "group of related programs" is recorded from 1963. All systems go (1962) is from U.S. space program. The system "prevailing social order" is from 1806.
library classification system that organizes information into 10 broad areas subdivided numerically into progressively smaller topics, by 1885, named for Melvil Dewey (1851-1931) who proposed it 1876 while acting librarian of Amherst College. He also crusaded for simplified spelling and the metric system.
a model solar-system machinery constructed to represent the motions of the planets in their orbits, 1713, invented c. 1704 by English clockmaker George Graham (1673-1751) and constructed by instrument maker John Rowley. Graham gave a copy to his patron, Charles Boyle (1674-1731), 4th Earl of Orrery (Cork) and named it in his honor.
1640s, "worldly, of this world," a sense now obsolete, from Latinized form of Greek kosmikos "worldly, earthly, of the world," from kosmos "world-order, world" (see cosmos). Cosmical "related to the earth" is attested from 1580s.
Modern sense of "of or pertaining to the universe," especially as conceived as subject to a harmonious system of laws, is from 1846. Meaning "related to or dealing with the cosmos, forming part of the material universe beyond the earth or the solar system" is from 1871. In reference to inconceivably vast space or protracted time, from 1874. Related: Cosmically.
transuranic metallic element, 1942, from Pluto, the planet, + element ending -ium. Discovered at University of California, Berkeley, in 1941, the element was named on suggestion of Seaborg and Wahl because it follows neptunium in the periodic table as Pluto follows (or followed) Neptune in the Solar System. The name plutonium earlier had been proposed for barium and was used sometimes in this sense early 19c.
1680s, in anatomy, "an interlacing of nerves, vessels, or fibers," Modern Latin, literally "braid, network," noun use of past participle of Latin plectere "to twine, braid, fold," from suffixed form of PIE root *plek- "to plait." Original use in solar plexus "network of nerves in the abdomen" (see solar). General sense of "net-like arrangement of parts" is from 1760s. Related: Plexal.
name of a Semitic solar deity worshiped, especially by the Phoenicians and Carthaginians, "with much license and sensuality" [Century Dictionary], late 14c., Biblical, from Late Latin Baal, Greek Baal, from Hebrew Ba'al, literally "owner, master, lord," a title applied to any deity (including Jehovah; see Hosea ii.16), but later a name of the particular Phoenician solar deity; from ba'al "he took possession of," also "he married;" related to or derived from the Akkadian god-name Belu (source of Hebrew Bel), name of Marduk.
It is identical with the first element in Beelzebub and the second in Hannibal ("grace of Baal") and Hasdrubal ("help of Baal"). The name has been used figuratively in English for any "false god."
"solid center of a wheel," 1640s, of uncertain origin, perhaps, if all the senses are in fact the same word, from hubbe, originally probably "lump, round protuberance, boss," the source of the hob of a fireplace and the hobnail of a boot. A wheelwright's word, not generally known or used until c. 1828; it reached wider currency with the vogue for bicycling. Meaning "center of interest or activity or importance" first recorded 1858 in writings of Oliver W. Holmes, and originally especially of Boston.
Boston State-House is the hub of the solar system. [Holmes, "Autocrat of the Breakfast Table"]
[E]verybody knows that Boston used to be called the Hub, meaning the hub of the universe. It may still be the hub, because the center of a wheel moves slowly. [J.P. Marquand, Life magazine, March 24, 1941]
1550s, "a number attached to a year to show the number of days into the calendar moon on which the solar year begins;" 1580s, "number of days by which the solar year exceeds a lunar one of 12 moons;" from French épacte (12c.), from Late Latin epacta "an intercalary day," from Greek epakte (plural epaktai, in epaktai hemerai "intercalary days"), from fem. of epaktos "brought in, imported, alien," verbal adjective of epagein "to add, bring forward," also "intercalate," from epi "on" (see epi-) + agein "put in motion, move; push forward, advance," from PIE root *ag- "to drive, draw out or forth, move." Related: Epactal.
