constellate

Senses through time

1. early 14c. English constellation

   Position of a planet in the zodiac.¹

   Established

2. late 14c.

   A recognized star pattern handed down from antiquity.¹

   Established

3. 1630s figurative

   Any assemblage of a brilliant or distinguished character.¹

   Established

4. 1611 verb constellate

   To gather or be gathered into a constellation; to cluster. OED’s earliest cited English verb is 1611 (Donne). Etymonline’s constellation page does not treat the verb.²

   Established

Semantic change

• stars set together (incl. influence on affairs)

  ME late 14c.

  a recognized sky figure

  Astrology and pattern-naming share the word. They are not the same claim. Established¹

Cognates and neighbors

Resemblance is not lineage. Translation is not descent.

• English

  star¹

  from PGmc *sternōn, same PIE *ster-

  Cognate

Read the text

• I folwed ay myn inclinacioun / By vertu of my constillacioun¹

• From Latin _constellatio_: a configuration of stars. _con_ together _stella_ star. We gave a name to the act of seeing stars together.³

  Primary source

The 42 Index

LEXIS is the linguistic world of the Constellation. The Index owns named 42-objects in the same sky. These are doors, not copies. The Index shares questions and sources. It does not share the page. This verb’s own ordinal is a miss.

• Unicode Asterism 2042

  Named object / scientific measurement · Established

  Unicode asterism U+2042 is a typographic cluster of stars. Related by the act of seeing together, not by etymology. The Index records the miss: hexadecimal 2042 is not decimal 42.

  Asked by the Index

  • Is a hexadecimal code point that ends in 42 the same as decimal 42?
• M42

  Named object / scientific measurement · Established

  Messier 42 is the Orion Nebula, a catalogue name in the figure THE CONSTELLATION walks. The 42 is Messier’s list number, not this verb’s etymology. LEXIS owns the English word. The Index owns that sky object.

  Asked by the Index

  • Is a catalogue seat a measurement of forty-two?

  Cited by the Index

  • Charles Messier, Catalogue des nébuleuses et des amas d’étoiles (1771)
  • NASA / ESA Hubble, Orion Treasury

Follow the number

Numerical analysis comes after language. Historical systems and modern English mappings are labeled. Misses are kept. Further calculation lives at CIPHER.

Ask the next question

Ask the next question

• If the stars are not together, what exactly constellates; light, or attention?
• When did constellation stop meaning influence and start meaning a map?
• Is LEXIS performing the same act the Latin named: seeing together?

Neighbors

• meaning
• field
• λόγος
• understand
• grok

• THE CONSTELLATION: Owns the sky-walk of this word. LEXIS owns the linguistic history.
• The Book of 42: The chronicle this instrument serves.
• Stars: Stories of how humanity learned to look up.
• The 42 Index: Owns the 42 census. LEXIS does not copy the database.

Notes