Revolutionary
- PostEagle
- March 1, 2019
- Word Etymology
- 0 Comments
REVOLUTIONARY- as found in the title of
Copernicus’ book “DE REVOLUTIONIBUS”.
Today we know about Galileo and Copernicus setting the Church straight on what celestial body revolves around another. The Church had taught that man was the center of the universe and that the sun must therefore, revolve around the earth. Galileo and Copernicus using telescopes proved that the earth revolves around the sun. The Church was in such an uproar that they punished Galileo with house arrest. It took hundreds of years before the Church admitted its error. This scientific fact in astronomy now puts the Old Testament story of Joshua commanding the sun to stand still, in conflict with scientific fact.
Twenty-first century science, applying Newton’s discovery of the laws of GRAVITY, point out that if this were so, everything on earth would have flown off. The author of the Book of Joshua and the Church believed that the sun revolved around the earth.
Both Galileo and Copernicus had great courage to challenge the teaching of their day and reveal the pious error of the Church.
Copernicus had been erudite and fluent in Latin…hence his use of the term ‘DE REVOLUTIONIBUS’ in the ablative plural.
The Latin verb – VOLVO, VOLERE – meaning – to roll, to turn – and the Latin noun – VOLUTIO, VOLUTIONIS – meaning – a rolling, a turning – are used in many of our English words.
Here are some prefixes with meaning:
RE – AGAIN, BACK AGAIN as in REVOLUTION, REVOLVE, REVOLVER
IN – IN, ON, INTO as in INVOLVEMENT, INVOLVE
DE – DOWN as in DEVOLUTION, DEVOLVE
CUM (con) – WITH, TOGETHER as in CONVOLUTION, CONVOLVE
Copernicus surely wrote an innovative book.
Today we know about the millions of celestial bodies revolving about suns in systems never before known, thanks to NASA and the telescopes in space.