• ethereal •
Pronunciation: ee-thi-ree-êl • Hear it!
Part of Speech: Adjective
Meaning: 1. Flimsy, wispy, airy, floating along the edge of existence. 2. (Chemistry) Related to ether.
Notes: This charming word is the adjective from ether, which to the ancient Greeks was the crystal clear upper air breathed by the gods on Mount Olympus. That is where the sense of "airiness" originated. This word may be used adverbially with the usual suffix, ethereally. The quality it represents is ethereality. While this word's sound and meaning are beautiful as they are, I think the poetic—and now archaic—spelling, æthereal, gives it a more angelic and, well, ethereal appearance.
In Play: Spirits are the most likely creatures to be ethereal: "Charlene? She just swished through the house like an ethereal spirit on a mission without speaking to anyone." Untouchable objects are also ethereal: "Sidney Couch putters around an ethereal garden of images and ideas he has created in his mind and has very little contact with the real world." (I can understand Sidney.)
Word History: Today's Good Word is the adjective accompanying ether, which comes from Latin aether "purest upper air, sky, firmament". Latin borrowed its word from Greek aither "a purest fire or air that surrounds celestial bodies". This word is based on the verb aithein "to ignite, light, set on fire". The connection is either the ethereality of fire or the fact that fires were kept in the temples of the gods, an idea supported by Latin aedis "temple, building". This word underlies aedificium, which came to English, via French, as (a)edifice. Both words originate in PIE aidh- "to burn", source also of Sanskrit edha "firewood, fuel", Breton oaz "animosity", Greek aithein "to burn, light", Welsh aidd "zeal, ardor", Norwegian ild "fire", and Lithuanian aistra "passion, ardor". (We owe Jacob Rossignuolo of Melbourne, Australia, much more than an ethereal expression of our gratitude for suggesting today's misty Good Word.)
