zeta, n.²

zeta
http://www.oed.com/dictionary/zeta_n2%3Ftab%3Dmeaning_and_use
Revised 2018

# † zetanoun2

## Earlier version

- zeta¹ in OED Second Edition (1989)

## 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

1. zest, n.¹ 1674–
2. zest, n.² 1706
3. zest, v. 1702–
4. zest, int. 1705–22
5. zester, n. 1963–
6. zestful, adj. 1797–
7. zestfully, adv. 1843–
8. zestiness, n. 1912–
9. zesty, adj. 1826–
10. zeta, n.¹?a1425–
11. zeta, n.²1706–1860
12. zetacism, n. 1860–
13. zeta function, n. 1879–
14. zeta-ic, adj. 1840–1927
15. zeta potential, n. 1927–
16. zetetic, adj. & n. 1645–
17. zetetical, adj. & n. 1646–
18. zetetically, adv. 1665–
19. Zetetical Society, n. 1881–
20. zetetics, n. 1843–
21. 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:

1. 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.

1. 1706–1860
   A kind of room or chamber.
   Only recorded in glossarial sources in English contexts, the sources disagreeing as to the precise meaning of the term.
   1. 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)
   2. 1850

      > Zeta, presumed to be a room over the porch of a Christian church.

      J. Weale, Rudimentary Dictionary of Terms Architecture iv. 550/1
   3. 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
   historical
   1. stew c1374–1572
      A heated room; a room with a fireplace.
   2. stove?1542–1706
      A 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…
   3. fire room 1591–
      A room containing a fireplace. Now historical and rare.
   4. firehouse 1632
      a. 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…
   5. stove-room 1706–
      †a. = stove, n.¹ 2; b. = stove, n.¹ 4.
   6. zeta 1706–1860
      A kind of room or chamber.
   View in Historical Thesaurus
   1. alpha c1175–
      (The name of) the first letter (Α, α) of the Greek alphabet.
   2. mu c1175–
      (The name of) the twelfth letter (μ, Μ) of the Greek alphabet.
   3. beta a1400–
      The second letter of the Greek alphabet, Β, β.
   4. tau a1400–
      (The name of) the 19th letter of the Greek alphabet (Τ, τ).
   5. chi c1400–
      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)…
   6. delta c1400–
      The name of the fourth letter of the Greek alphabet, having the form of a triangle (Δ), and the power of D.
   7. epsilon c1400–
      The fifth letter of the Greek alphabet (Ε, ε).
   8. eta c1400–
      The name of the seventh letter (Η, η) of the Greek alphabet, corresponding to English e.
   9. kappa c1400–
      The tenth letter of the Greek alphabet, Κ, κ.
   10. gamma?a1425–
       (The name of) the third letter (Γ, γ) of the Greek alphabet.
   11. lambda?a1425–
       (The name of) the 11th letter of the Greek alphabet (Λ, λ).
   12. nu?a1425–
       (The name of) the thirteenth letter (Ν, ν) of the Greek alphabet.
   13. phi?a1425–
       (The name of) the twenty-first letter (Φ, ϕ) of the Greek alphabet.
   14. pi?a1425–
       (The name of) the sixteenth letter (Π, π,) of the Greek alphabet.
   15. psi?a1425–
       (The name of) the twenty-third letter (Ψ, ψ) of the Greek alphabet.
   16. rho?a1425–
       (The name of) the seventeenth letter (Ρ, ρ) of the Greek alphabet.
   17. xi?a1425–
       (The name of) the fourteenth letter of the Greek alphabet (Ξ, ξ).
   18. zeta?a1425–
       (The name of) the sixth letter (ζ, Ζ) of the Greek alphabet.
   19. upsilon 1559–
       (The name of) the 20th letter of the Greek alphabet, Υ, υ (originally V, Y). Cf. U, n.¹, V, n., and Y, n.
   20. san 1584–
       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…
   21. omega 1599–
       (The name of) the last letter (Ω, ω) of the Greek alphabet.
   22. theta 1603–
       The eighth letter of the Greek alphabet, Θ, θ (see th, n.¹).
   23. iota 1607–
       The name of the Greek letter Ι, ι, corresponding to the Roman I, i; the smallest letter of the Greek alphabet.
   24. sigma 1607–
       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.
   25. omicron?1632–
       (The name of) the fifteenth letter (Ο, ο) of the Greek alphabet, corresponding to the short o. Also figurative.
   26. Aeolic digamma 1662–
       The sixth letter of the early Greek alphabet preserved in the Aeolic dialect (see digamma, n.).
   27. digamma 1699–
       The sixth letter of the original Greek alphabet, corresponding to the Semitic waw or vau, which was afterwards disused, the sound expressed by it…
   28. zeta 1850
       A kind of room or chamber.
   View in Historical Thesaurus

zeta, n.² was revised in June 2018.

zeta, n.² was last modified in July 2023.