satellite: [16] Satellite comes via French satellite from Latin satelles ‘attendant, escort’, which itself probably went back to Etruscan satnal. Its use for a ‘body orbiting a planet’ is first recorded in English in 1665, and comes from the astronomer Johannes Kepler’s application of Latin satelles to the moons of Jupiter.
satellite (n.)
1540s, "follower or attendant of a superior person," from Middle French satellite (14c.), from Latin satellitem (nominative satelles) "attendant, companion, courtier, accomplice, assistant," perhaps from Etruscan satnal (Klein), or a compound of roots *satro- "full, enough" + *leit- "to go" (Tucker); compare English follow, which is constructed of similar roots.
Meaning "planet that revolves about a larger one" first attested 1660s, in reference to the moons of Jupiter, from Latin satellites, which was used in this sense 1610s by German astronomer Johannes Kepler (1571-1630). Galileo, who had discovered them, called them Sidera Medicæa in honor of the Medici family. Meaning "man-made machinery orbiting the Earth" first recorded 1936 as theory, 1957 as fact. Meaning "country dependent and subservient to another" is recorded from 1800.
双语例句
1. The coded signal is received by satellite dish aerials.
编码信号由碟形卫星天线接收。
来自柯林斯例句
2. Something must have gone wrong with the satellite link.
卫星连接一定出了毛病。
来自柯林斯例句
3. The satellite had been inactive since its launch two years ago.
该卫星自从两年前发射以来一直没起作用。
来自柯林斯例句
4. NASA plans to launch a satellite to study cosmic rays.
美国国家航空航天局计划发射一颗卫星上天，对宇宙射线进行研究。
来自柯林斯例句
5. The live satellite broadcast was beamed into homes across America.
