Etymology

heliostat

H4E1L1I1O1S1T1A1T1

Today it means: A device that includes a plane mirror which turns so as to keep reflecting sunlight toward a predetermined target, compensating for the sun's apparent motions in the sky. The target may be a physical object, distant from the heliostat, or a direction in space, and is almost always stationary relative to the heliostat, so the light is reflected in a fixed direction. Full definition →

New Latin heliostata ← Ancient Greek ἥλιος ← Latin status
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The story

  1. Latin · derived fromstatus“stationary”
  2. Ancient Greek · derived fromἥλιος“sun”
  3. New Latin · borrowed fromheliostata
  4. English todayheliostat

First use appear c. 1747, from New Latin heliostata, from Ancient Greek ἥλιος (hḗlios, “sun”) + Latin status (“stationary”). By surface analysis, helio- + -stat.

Words from the same roots

Ancient Greekἥλιος all →

heliumhelioshelianthophobiahelio-heliodorhelioliteheliometerheliotypyisohel

Latinstatus all →

statestatusestadostadeestadalstatus quostatuvolism

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.