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Origin and history of delta

delta(n.)

c. 1200, name of the fourth letter of the Greek alphabet (equivalent to our D), which was shaped like a triangle. The name is from Phoenician daleth "tent door." Sense of "triangular island or alluvial tract between the diverging branches of the mouth of a great river" is because Herodotus used it of the delta-shaped mouth of the Nile. It was so used in English from 1550s and applied to other river mouths, of whatever shape, by 1790. Related: Deltaic; deltification.

also from c. 1200

Entries linking to delta

deltoid(adj.)

"triangular, resembling the Greek letter delta," 1741, in deltoid muscle, the large muscle of the shoulder, which is so called for its shape, from Greek deltoeides "triangular," literally "shaped like the letter delta;" see delta + -oid. As a noun, "deltoid muscle," by 1758 (delts, short for "deltoid muscles," is by 1977). Related: Deltoidal.

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    Trends of delta

    adapted from books.google.com/ngrams/ with a 7-year moving average; ngrams are probably unreliable.

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    Athabaskan
    from Woods Cree (Algonquian) Athapaskaw, literally "(where) there are plants one after another" [Bright], referring to the delta...
    Egypt
    The Egyptian name, Kemet, means "black country," possibly in reference to the rich delta soil....
    Praesepe
    "Manger" to the Romans perhaps by influence of two nearby stars, Gamma and Delta Cancri, dim and unspectacular but both for...
    formation
    late 14c., "vital force in plants and animals;" early 15c., "act of creating or making," from Old French formacion "formation, fashioning, creation" (12c.) or directly from Latin formationem (nominative formatio) "a forming, shaping," noun of action or condition from past-partici
    letter
    c. 1200, "graphic symbol, alphabetic sign, written character conveying information about sound in speech," from Old French letre "character, letter; missive, note," in plural, "literature, writing, learning" (10c., Modern French lettre), from Latin littera (also litera) "letter o
    quarrel
    [angry dispute] mid-14c., querele, "dispute, altercation," also "ground for complaint," from Old French querele "matter, concern, business; dispute, controversy" (Modern French querelle) and directly from Latin querella "complaint, accusation; lamentation," from queri "to complai
    Arab
    "one of the native people of Arabia and surrounding regions," late 14c. (Arabes, a plural form), from Old French Arabi, from Latin Arabs (accusative Arabem), from Greek Araps (genitive Arabos), from Arabic 'arab, indigenous name of the people, perhaps literally "inhabitant of the
    atavism
    1833, in biology, "reversion by influence of heredity to ancestral characteristics, resemblance of a given organism to some remote ancestor, return to an early or original type," from French atavisme, attested by 1820s, said to have been coined by French botanist Antoine-Nicolas
    literature
    early 15c., "book-learning," from Latin literatura/litteratura "learning, a writing, grammar," originally "writing formed with letters," from litera/littera "alphabetic letter" also "an epistle, writing, document; literature, great books; science, learning" (see letter (n.1)). In
    pragmatic
    1610s, "meddlesome, impertinently busy," short for earlier pragmatical, or else from French pragmatique (15c.), from Latin pragmaticus "skilled in business or law," from Greek pragmatikos "fit for business, active, business-like; systematic," from pragma (genitive pragmatos) "a d

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    Dictionary entries near delta
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