Revised 2018
† zetanoun2
Factsheet
What does the noun zeta mean?
There is one meaning in OED's entry for the noun zeta. See ‘Meaning & use’ for definition, usage, and quotation evidence.
This word is now obsolete. It is last recorded around the 1860s.
Where does the noun zeta come from?
Earliest known use
early 1700s
The earliest known use of the noun zeta is in the early 1700s.
OED's earliest evidence for zeta is from 1706, in Phillips's New World of Words.
zeta is a borrowing from Latin.
Etymons: Latin zeta.
Nearby entries
- zest, n.¹1674–
- zest, n.²1706
- zest, v.1702–
- zest, int.1705–22
- zester, n.1963–
- zestful, adj.1797–
- zestfully, adv.1843–
- zestiness, n.1912–
- zesty, adj.1826–
- zeta, n.¹?a1425–
- zeta, n.²1706–1860
- zetacism, n.1860–
- zeta function, n.1879–
- zeta-ic, adj.1840–1927
- zeta potential, n.1927–
- zetetic, adj. & n.1645–
- zetetical, adj. & n.1646–
- zetetically, adv.1665–
- Zetetical Society, n.1881–
- zetetics, n.1843–
- Zetland, n.1577–
Etymology
Summary
A borrowing from Latin.
Etymon: Latin zeta.
< post-classical Latin zeta room, chamber (4th cent.), refectory (from 11th cent. in British sources), watchtower (12th cent. in a British source), variant (see Z n.) of classical Latin diaeta room (see…
< post-classical Latin zeta room, chamber (4th cent.), refectory (from 11th cent. in British sources), watchtower (12th cent. in a British source), variant (see Z n.) of classical Latin diaeta room (see diet n.1).
Notes
Compare the following example of post-classical Latin zeta in a 16th-cent. Latin-English dictionary:
- 1542
Zeta, & Zetacula, a littell chamber for one bed and two stoles, ioyned to an other chamber, with courtaines, soo that the courtaines beinge drawen, it made but one chaumber and hauynge windowes on thre partes therof to receyue in the heate of the sonne.
T. Elyot, Bibliotheca
Meaning & use
Obsolete. historical.
- 1706–1860A kind of room or chamber.Only recorded in glossarial sources in English contexts, the sources disagreeing as to the precise meaning of the term.
- 1706
Zeta,..a Room kept warm like a Stove; a withdrawing-Chamber with Pipes convey'd along in the Walls, to receive from below, either the cool Air, or the heat of warm Water. In our old Records, it is taken for a Dining-Room, Hall, or Parlour.
Phillips's New World of Words (new edition) - 1850
Zeta, presumed to be a room over the porch of a Christian church.
J. Weale, Rudimentary Dictionary of Terms Architecture iv. 550/1 - 1860
Zeta, Zeteorila [? Zeticula],..the Vaporaria and Conclavia, or vapour-baths and inner closets, in the pavement of which warm or cold water was diffused as required.
R. G. Mayne, Expository Lexicon Medical Science
society inhabiting and dwelling inhabited place a building parts of building room types of room generally [nouns] warm room or room with fire- stewc1374–1572A heated room; a room with a fireplace.
- stove?1542–1706A sitting-room or bedroom heated with a furnace. Chiefly with reference to Germany, the Low Countries, Scandinavia, or Russia. (Cf. stew, n.² I.2) Obs…
- fire room1591–A room containing a fireplace. Now historical and rare.
- firehouse1632a. A room in a house, containing the main fireplace (cf. house, n.¹ A.I.1c); b. a house with a fireplace in it, as distinguished from the…
- stove-room1706–†a. = stove, n.¹ 2; b. = stove, n.¹ 4.
- zeta1706–1860A kind of room or chamber.
- alphac1175–(The name of) the first letter (Α, α) of the Greek alphabet.
- muc1175–(The name of) the twelfth letter (μ, Μ) of the Greek alphabet.
- betaa1400–The second letter of the Greek alphabet, Β, β.
- taua1400–(The name of) the 19th letter of the Greek alphabet (Τ, τ).
- chic1400–The name of χ, the 22nd letter of the Greek alphabet; spec. used as the name of a moth having a marking of the form of this letter (in full, chi moth)…
- deltac1400–The name of the fourth letter of the Greek alphabet, having the form of a triangle (Δ), and the power of D.
- epsilonc1400–The fifth letter of the Greek alphabet (Ε, ε).
- etac1400–The name of the seventh letter (Η, η) of the Greek alphabet, corresponding to English e.
- kappac1400–The tenth letter of the Greek alphabet, Κ, κ.
- gamma?a1425–(The name of) the third letter (Γ, γ) of the Greek alphabet.
- lambda?a1425–(The name of) the 11th letter of the Greek alphabet (Λ, λ).
- nu?a1425–(The name of) the thirteenth letter (Ν, ν) of the Greek alphabet.
- phi?a1425–(The name of) the twenty-first letter (Φ, ϕ) of the Greek alphabet.
- pi?a1425–(The name of) the sixteenth letter (Π, π,) of the Greek alphabet.
- psi?a1425–(The name of) the twenty-third letter (Ψ, ψ) of the Greek alphabet.
- rho?a1425–(The name of) the seventeenth letter (Ρ, ρ) of the Greek alphabet.
- xi?a1425–(The name of) the fourteenth letter of the Greek alphabet (Ξ, ξ).
- zeta?a1425–(The name of) the sixth letter (ζ, Ζ) of the Greek alphabet.
- upsilon1559–(The name of) the 20th letter of the Greek alphabet, Υ, υ (originally V, Y). Cf. U, n.¹, V, n., and Y, n.
- san1584–The name (first recorded by writers of the sixth century b.c.) for a sibilant (?) found in early Doric scripts (later displaced by sigma), which…
- omega1599–(The name of) the last letter (Ω, ω) of the Greek alphabet.
- theta1603–The eighth letter of the Greek alphabet, Θ, θ (see th, n.¹).
- iota1607–The name of the Greek letter Ι, ι, corresponding to the Roman I, i; the smallest letter of the Greek alphabet.
- sigma1607–The name of the Greek letter Σ, σ, ς, the equivalent of the English S, s, in its uncial form having the shape of C.
- omicron?1632–(The name of) the fifteenth letter (Ο, ο) of the Greek alphabet, corresponding to the short o. Also figurative.
- Aeolic digamma1662–The sixth letter of the early Greek alphabet preserved in the Aeolic dialect (see digamma, n.).
- digamma1699–The sixth letter of the original Greek alphabet, corresponding to the Semitic waw or vau, which was afterwards disused, the sound expressed by it…
- zeta1850A kind of room or chamber.