From: Ivan Shmakov <
ivan@violet.siamics.net>
Roy Witt <Roy.Witt@f22.n387.z1.fidonet.org> writes:
alexander koryagin wrote to Ardith Hinton:
As native speakers of English you & I would probably say
"astronaut". Although some sources define "cosmonaut" simply as "astronaut", the majority of my usual references define it as "a
Russian astronaut".
Well, but the USSR was the first in space, so its term "cosmonaut"
is a registered term next to "sputnik." Beside this, "astronaut"
IMHO is too pompous and incorrect word.
Astro has been in use for centurys, as in astrology and many other endeavors.
The point is that Greek "astron" means "star," but as of yet,
there're no known cases of any /astronaut/ actually reaching any
/star./ (Including Sol, for several reasons.)
[...]
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