: a compact instrument used to observe and calculate the position of celestial bodies before the invention of the sextant
Illustration of astrolabe
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The Astrolabe and the Stars
"Thyn Astrolabie hath a ring to putten on the thombe of thi right hond in taking the height of thinges." Thus begins a description of the astrolabe in A Treatise on the Astrolabe, a medieval user's guide penned by an amateur astronomer by the name of Geoffrey Chaucer. Chaucer is best known for his Middle English poetic masterpiece The Canterbury Tales, but when his nose wasn't buried in his writing, Chaucer was stargazing, and some of his passion for the heavens rubbed off on his son Lewis, who had displayed a special "abilite to lerne sciences touching nombres and proporciouns." Chaucer dedicated his treatise to the 10-year-old boy, setting his instructions not in the usual Latin, but in "naked wordes in Englissh" so that little Lewis could understand. When he got older, Lewis may have learned that the word astrolabe traces to the Greek name for the instrument.
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Dated to the late Bronze Age, the wreck testifies to ancient sailors’ ability to navigate by looking at the stars, long before the development of tools like compasses and astrolabes.—Meilan Solly, Smithsonian Magazine, 27 Dec. 2024 The astrolabe was a revolutionary tool for calculating celestial positions and local time.—The Editors, JSTOR Daily, 26 Dec. 2024 How important were astrolabes to the transformative evolution of European thought?—Christopher Knight, Los Angeles Times, 22 Nov. 2024 The show begins with an extensive selection of luxury astrolabes, a technical instrument of engraved and ornamented metal plates and dials used for timekeeping, astronomy and navigation.—Christopher Knight, Los Angeles Times, 22 Nov. 2024 See all Example Sentences for astrolabe
Word History
Etymology
Middle English astrelabie, astellabre, astyrlabe, borrowed from Anglo-French astrelabe, astrolabre (continental Middle French astrelabe, astrolabe), borrowed from Medieval Latin astrolabium, borrowed from Late Greek astrolábion, re-formation of Greek astrolábos "armillary sphere," from astro-astro- + -labos, derivative in nominal compounds from the aorist stem of lambánein "to take hold of, grasp" — more at latch entry 1
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