Wither

Wither (pronounced with-er)

(1) To shrivel; fade; decay.

(2) To lose the freshness of youth, as from age (often followed by away).

(3) To make flaccid, shrunken, or dry, as from loss of moisture; cause to lose freshness, bloom, vigour, etc.

(4) Harmfully to affect.

(5) To abash, as by a scathing glance (the withering look).

(6) The singular of withers (part of the back of a four-legged animal that is between the shoulder blades).

1530s: From the Middle English as an alteration of the late fourteenth century wydderen (dry up, shrivel), intransitive, apparently a differentiated and special use of wederen (to expose to weather), from the Old English hwider, an alteration of hwæder, from the Proto-Germanic hwadrê.  In German, there was verwittern (to become weather-beaten), from Witter (weather).  The transitive sense emerged in the 1550s.  Wither is a verb & adverb, withered is an adjective &  adverb, withering is a noun, verb & adjective and witheringly is an adverb.

Readers ancient & modern

There's also whither (To what place?) which is functionally equivalent to the relative adverb "whereto".  Except in poetry or other literary forms, "whither" is now rare to such an extent that it can be said to have vanished from popular use.  For many students, Shakespeare in the original is close to something in a foreign language and it’s not uncommon for high-school texts to be rendered more accessible.  This has be criticised as dumbing down (and at tertiary level probably is) but is probably a good idea.  One editor actually thought young readers would manage with wither but thought "riggish" too difficult.  In Antony and Cleopatra (Act 2 Scene 2), Shakespeare had Enobarbus say:

Never. He will not.
Age cannot wither her, nor custom stale
Her infinite variety. Other women cloy
The appetites they feed, but she makes hungry
Where most she satisfies, for vilest things
Become themselves in her, that the holy priests
Bless her when she is riggish.

The editor “translated” thus:

He’ll never leave her.
Age won’t wither her,
And her charms are so varied that she never grows boring.
With other women, the longer you know them the less appealing they become. 
Cleopatra, on the other hand, makes you desire her the more you see her.
Even her worst faults are charming
Holy priests bless her even when she acts the slut.

The Withered Garland (1800) by Karl Wilhelm Friedrich von Schlegel (1772–1829)

It was yet May when these you broke,

and in those flowers spoke,

yet a blossom yourself,

that which, now blooming, in your own heart

was awakening and,

in sacred wise, did already stir,

that childlike something your friend, ah! so cherished

when she her heart did lay

upon his own,

where now I do eternally weep.

 

These violets, which as a sign the child did send,

now do so soften my heart

that my eyes

may never bring to an end

the pain they now suck in,

and oft do still to her turn,

now finding but this garland, withered, in my hands.

Like this wreath did she,

chosen early to end,

lose herself self-unbeknownst.

 

Take hither this lofty, precious gift,

the only thing yet left to me

of the precious one,

that it might her image yet renew

when amid tears

my yearning so willingly flees

into death arms, escaping life’s vain notions.

Though let me first in tears

immerse my sweet remembrance!

 

We who found life in the pleasure of death,

who boldly nature understood

amid the flames,

where love and pain together

us unite:

let our foreheads be encircled

by the sign whose sense we have long since found.

For did not from these wounds

oft spring forth roses

in painful caress?

 

Hence may this girl’s own shadow surround us, hovering,

to melancholy devoted,

till in death as one we may again more intimately live,

and this deep striving wholly unite

those who, smiling, for one another weep.

Homonym

Homonym (pronounced hom-uh-nim)

(1) In phonetics, a word pronounced the same as another but differing in meaning, whether spelled the same way or not, as heir and air; a homophone.

(2) In phonetics, a word of the same written form as another but of different meaning and usually origin, whether pronounced the same way or not; a homograph.

(3) In phonetics, a word that is both a homophone and a homograph, that is, exactly the same as another in sound and spelling but different in meaning.

(4) A namesake (a person with the same name as another) (obsolete).

(5) In taxonomy, a name given to a species or genus (that should be unique) that has already been assigned to a different species or genus and that is thus rejected.

1635–1645: The construct was homo- +‎ -onym.  From the French homonyme and directly from the Latin homōnymum, from the Greek homṓnymon, neuter of homṓnymos (homonymous) (of the same name).  Homo was from the Ancient Greek ὁμός (homós) (same).  The –onym suffix was a creation for the international scientific vocabulary, a combining from the New Latin, from the Ancient Greek ὄνυμα (ónuma), Doric and Aeolic dialectal form of ὄνομα (ónoma) (name), from the primitive Indo-European root no-men- (name); the related form –onymy also widely used.

For a word which some insist has a narrow definition, it’s used by many to mean quite different things, the related forms being (1) homograph which is a word that has the same spelling as another word but has a different sound and a different meaning (such as bass which can be wither “a low, deep sound” or “a type of fish”) & (2) homophone which is a word that has the same sound as another word but is spelled differently and has a different meaning (such as to, two & too).  Homograph and homophone are uncontested but homonym is used variously either to mean (1) a word that is spelled like another but has a different sound and meaning (a homograph), (2) a word that sounds like another but has a different spelling and meaning (a homophone) or (3) a word that is spelled and pronounced like another but has a different meaning (a homograph & homophone).  According to the purists, a homonym must be both a homograph and a homophone and prescriptive dictionaries still tend in this direction but the descriptive volumes (usually while noting the strict construction), acknowledge that as used in modern English, a homonym can be a homograph or a homophone.  The sage advice seems to be (1) to stick to the classics and use all three words in their strict sense, (2) maintain consistency in use and (3) don’t correct the more permissive (on the Christian basis of “forgive them for they know not what they do”).

Crooked Hillary Clinton and the crooked spire of the Church of St Mary and All Saints, Chesterfield, Derbyshire, England.  Crooked has two meanings and pronunciations but is the one word used in two senses and thus not homonymic.  Crooked (pronounced krookt) is the past tense of the verb crook (bend or curve out of shape), from the Old English crōcian (to crook, to bend) which was cognate with Danish kroget (crooked; bent) whereas crooked (pronounced lrook-id) is an adjective meaning "bent or not straight" and may be used literally or figuratively to describe someone untrustworthy or dishonest.  Crooked is thus also an example of a hetronym (same spellings with different pronunciations and meanings

Adding to the murkiness, Henry Fowler (1858-1933) noted in Modern English Usage (1926) that some confusion has long clouded homonym and synonym, something he blamed on the “loose” meaning of the latter, explaining that homonyms are “separate words happen to be identical in form” while synonyms exist as separate words which happen to mean the same thing”.  However, at this point an etymological layer intrudes, Fowler noting “pole” in the sense of “a stake or shaft” is a native English word whereas when used to mean “the terminal point of an axis” the origins lie in the Greek.  Rather than one, “pole” is thus two separate words but being identical in form are thought homonyms.  By contrast “cat” the feline and “cat” as a clipping of the Admiralty’s flogging device “cat o' nine tails” “although identical in form and meaning different things are not separate words but the one used in two senses and thus not homonymic.

Lindsay Lohan on the couch, sofa, chesterfield or settee, depending on one’s view.

Layers attach also to synonyms, a word used anyway with notorious sloppiness, true synonyms (separate words identical in meaning in the context in which they’re applied) are actually rare compared with pairs or sets frequently cited, many of which enjoy only a partial equivalence of meaning.  The imprecise use isn’t necessarily bad and often is essential for poetic or literary reasons but technically, synonyms should be separate words identical in denotation (what they reference) and connotation (what they mean); pure synonyms may thus be interchanged with no effect but such pairs or sets are rare although in technical fields (IT & various flavors of engineering) they have in recent decades became more numerous.  However, even when words satisfy Henry Fowler’s standards, nuances drawn from beyond etymology and phonetics can lend a layer of meaning which detract from the purity of the synonymousness.  Sofa & couch for example are often used interchangeably and regarded by most as synonymous but to a student of the history of furniture, because couch is from the French noun couche (a piece of furniture with no arms used for lying) from the verb meaning “to lie down”, it differs from a sofa (a long, upholstered seat usually with arms and a back).  That’s fine but “sofa” is used by some as a class-identifier, being the “U” (upper-class) form while couch, settee and such are “non-U”.

Exoskeleton & Endoskeleton

Exoskeleton (pronounced ek-soh-skel-i-tn)

(1) In zoology, an external covering or integument, any hardened external structure, as the shells of crustaceans or the scales and plates of fishes and reptiles, especially when it is of the nature of bone.

(2) All hard parts, such as hair, teeth, and nails which develop from the ectoderm or mesoderm in vertebrates (generally used only in technical literature).

(3) A wearable robotic machine used for aided or augmented mobility.

1841: The construct was exo- + skeleton.  The prefix endo- was used as a word-forming element meaning "inside, within, internal.  It was from the Ancient Greek ἔνδον (éndon) (within; inner; internal) from the primitive Indo-European en-do- (an extended form of the root en (in)).  Skeleton was from the New Latin skeleton (bones, bony framework of the body), from the Ancient Greek skeleton soma (dried-up body, mummy, skeleton), from the neuter of σκελετός (skeletós) (dried up, withered, dried body (and as a noun: parched; mummy), from σκέλλω (skéllō & skellein) (dry, dry up, make dry, parch), from the primitive Indo-European (s)kelha- (to parch, wither); related was the Ancient Greek σκληρός (sklirós) (hard).  Exoskeleton is a noun; the noun plural is exoskeletons or exoskeleta.

Skelton was an early variant form.  The noun use of Greek skeletos passed into Late Latin as (sceletus), hence the French squelette and the rare English skelet (1560s), the Spanish esqueleto & the Italian scheletro.  The meaning "bare outline" was first recorded circa 1600; hence the term "skeleton crew" from 1778 used to describe minimal staffing, the skeleton key a similar allusion to some of a structure being removed.  The phrase "skeleton in the closet" (source of secret shame to a person, family or institution) is from 1812 and thought an adoption from the imagery in the fable Bluebeard (1697) by Charles Perrault (1628-1703). Exoskeleton was in 1841 coined by by English paleontologist Sir Richard Owen (1804–1892).  Exoskeleton has become more widely used in recent years because of the interest in fields such as engineering, robotics and medicine in using external structures, often to augment or replace human functions.  As early as the 1960s, the "exoskeleton look" became fashionable among architects who would no longer conceal features like plumbing pipes

Trilobites

Trilobite variants.

Trilobite (pronounced try-low-byte) translates literally as “three lobes".  Often casually referred to as bugs or sea-bugs, in taxonomy, all trilobites actually belong in the class of trilobite in the phylum arthropod and within the class are ten orders.  It’s not known how many species of trilobites existed but almost 21,000 have thus far been identified in the fossil record, their numbers and variety leading them to be regarded as one of history’s more successful animals.  They inhabited all the seas and oceans and endured some three-hundred million years, surviving several mass-extinction events.  Their long duration, their structure and living habits meant they became a common and frequently discovered fossil, noted since antiquity although the first attempt scientifically to classify one seems to have been by Wan Shizen of China who, in 1689 described trylobite pygidia (tails) as "batstones".  The first known scientific drawing was by Welsh botanist, the Reverend Edward Lhuyd (1660-1709) whose sketch of a trilobite was published in "The Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society.  The drawing, now classified as being a Ogygiocarella debuchii, was then (not unreasonably), called the "flatfish".

Truly ancient, trilobites pre-date the Cambrian explosion (some 540 million years ago) and went extinct only towards the end of the Permian extinction event (some 250 million years ago) which ended the Paleozoic age which had lasted some 290 million years.  However, the earlier events took their toll, a few orders vanishing after the Ordovician event (some 445 million years ago) while the Devonian event (some 370 million years ago) removed all but one order, that last survivor dying out in the Permian event.  Why such a successful and prolific creature could not endure these extinctions remains a debate, the more popular theories including (1) environmental change happening with such rapidity there was no time for evolutionary adaptation and (2) the needed sources of nutrition vanishing because organisms lower in the food-chain went extinct.  All shared the same basic structure, having three lobes: a left pleural, a middle axial and a right pleural lobe, their bodies divided into a cephalon (dead), thorax (middle), and pygydium (tail).  Trilobites had a thick, protective exoskeleton which formed a hard calcite shell, something like that of the modern crab and is the reason for their frequency in the fossil record, the exoskeletons usually the only part to survive although, in the rare cases where certain surrounding conditions exist, traces of soft tissue such as antennae can survive fossilization.  As a trilobite grew, it molted its exoskeleton, and many of the fossils which exist are molted frames rather than dead creatures.

Before & after avian intrusion: 1952 Mercedes-Benz 300 SL (W194), Carrera Panamericana, Mexico, November 1952.

In nature, exoskeletons evolved over thousands of generations through the interplay of natural selection and adaptation to prevailing environmental conditions but with man-made objects such things, in cases of immediate need, can within hours be fashioned.  Returning to the circuits for the first time since the end of World War II (1939-1945), Mercedes-Benz had enjoyed immediate success with the new 300 SL (W194) race car which, despite being underpowered, proved its mettle with a combination of robustness, reliability and outstanding aerodynamics which both increased performance and improved fuel economy.  The W194, ten of which were built, is often referred to as “the first gullwing” (although the configuration had in 1939 been seen on a one-off Bugatti and was not uncommon in aviation and nautical use) but the distinctive doors were introduced only after those enforcing the regulations of sports car at Le Mans ruled the 300 SL’s original “doors” were no such things and were merely “elaborately framed windows”.  With re-designed doors fitted, the W194 promptly delivered the factory a 1-2 result in the 1952 24 hour endurance classic.

1952 Carrera Panamericana: The winning 300 SL in the factory museum.

Concluding things that year was the third Carrera Panamericana, a gruelling endurance event of eight stages over some 3,100 km (1,925 miles) between 19-23 November.  With typical thoroughness, the factory shipped three W194s along with a large support staff and all was going well until the lead car collided with a large bird (contemporary articles variously reporting the unfortunate creature as a vulture or buzzard) which smashed through the windscreen at an impact speed in excess of 215 km/h (135 mph), stunning the co-driver and leaving him bloodied.  Shook awake, he recovered and when the car reached the service point a new windscreen was fitted and, as a precaution against other vultures (or whatever) seeking vengeance, eight metal bars were fitted, the ad-hoc birdcage designed to keep them out, not in.  Without further avian “events”, the W194 repeated the result from Le Mans by finishing 1-2 and, fully restored, the winning car is part of the collection of the Mercedes-Benz Museum in Stuttgart.

1968 London-Sydney Marathon: The 1968 Porsche 911S which finished fourth (left) and after a full restoration (right).  A zoologist would insist this is only a "semiexoskeleton" on the basis of the partial coverage. 

As all in the Northern Hemisphere understand, in Australia, on land, sea & air, all the wildlife will try to kill you.  Noting this, when Porsche’s competition department prepared its three entries for the 1968 London-Sydney they limited their concern about sharks and crocodiles to a single paragraph in the drivers’ instruction sheets and decided the main threat to the cars were wandering “giant” kangaroos and low-flying wedge-tailed eagles (a bird with a wingspan wider even than Mexico’s vultures).  The first event of its type in the modern era, the 1968 London-Sydney Marathon spanned half the globe over a distance of 12,237 miles (16,934) and the route shows how times have changed, stages in Iran & Pakistan included; neither country now places many organizers of events would include in their itineraries but in 1968, kangaroos were still deemed more a threat than terrorism.  Accordingly, the factory designed a kind of exoskeleton, a robust external roll cage which essentially was the W194’s “birdcage” but “on steroids”.  As originally conceived, the structure had been of more modest proportions and while the final result may look like “overkill”, things were “beefed up” following one of the drivers writing off a rented VW Beetle after colliding with a kangaroo during pre-event testing in Australia.  Impressed by the extent of the damage, the engineers produced an impressively strong protective cage, content that whatever else might go wrong, it wouldn’t be a kangaroo which ended the venture.  Porsche 911S #58 finished fourth, victory going to a Hillman Hunter #75, one of the more improbable machines to win an international endurance event.

1968 London-Sydney Marathon: The winning 1968 Hillman Hunter (left) and restored 1967 Pakyan 1725 (right), the Iranian variants often noted for their additional bling.  Unlike the cautious Germans, most teams fitted only rudimentary additional protection against kangaroos and such; some ruefully later casting envious glances at Porsche's exoskeleton. 

In fairness, though an unlikely competition car, the Hillman Hunter (the “mainstream” model in the “Arrow” range which would sold also as “badge-engineered” Sunbeam, Singer & Humber variants) was a success in many countries, lasting in Europe from 1966 until 1979 although its most extraordinary longevity was achieved in the Islamic Republic of Iran.  In 1966, during the reign of Mohammad Reza Pahlavi (1919–1980; last Shah of Iran 1941-1979) assembly from CKD (completely knocked down) packs had begun with the car sold as the Paykan (پیکان, Romanized as Peykān and literally “Arrow”) and unlike many things, it survived the 1979 revolution to continue to flourish under the rule of Grand Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini (1900-1989; Supreme Leader, Islamic Republic of Iran, 1979-1989), full local manufacture starting in 1985.  Although theologically uncompromising, there’s no record of the Imam having complained of the presence on his assembly lines of a product from شیطان کوچک (Sheytān-e Koochak) (the UK & Israel being “Little Satan” and the US شیطان بزرگ (Sheytān-e Bozorg) “Great Satan” although in the West the terms are often misunderstood because in flavour of Shia Islam practiced in Iran, Satan is a pathetic rather than fearsome figure).  When in 1979 Grand Ayatollah Ali Khamenei (1939-2026; Supreme Leader, Islamic Republic of Iran 1989-2026) became supreme leader, the Pakyan carried on and although production of the salon finally ended in 2005, the pick-up variant continued to be sold for another decade, the last not leaving the line until almost 50 years after the first Hunter was sold in the UK.  From the modest Hunter, the ayatollah's got their money's worth.

Exoskeleton cars

MVE Exocet (left) & Exomotive’s Exocet Sport V8 (right).

Exoskeleton vehicles are numerous on farms, mine-sites and such but rarely seen on public roads.  They do though have a niche for those who want something which sacrifices just about everything (aerodynamics, weather protection, doors etc) for the nimbleness only extreme light-weight can deliver.  An example is the MVE Exocet, released for public sale in 2010.  It’s an inventive approach to the kit-car concept and takes the classic front-engined, rear-wheel drive approach, based on Mazda’s Miata (the MX-5, introduced in 1989 and a kind of clone of the Lotus Elan of the 1960s but without the problems), the advantage with the Japanese platform being its unusual sub-frame which permits the removal of the body, leaving the engine, drive-train and suspension as a rolling assembly to be transplanted to the Exocet chassis.

Because of the light weight, even when using sensible four-cylinder engines the Exocet delivers high-performance but the Americans in particular can’t resist the idea that just about any car can be improved by the installation of a V8 and quite outlandish power to weight ratios are possible.  An indicative example of Exomotive’s Exocet Sport used a 525 horsepower (LS3) version of one of the later evolutions of the small-block Chevrolet V8 which, fully fueled, weighed in at 1690 lb (767 kg, the 2026 Formula 1 regulations set a minimum dry-weight (ie excluding fuel) of 768 kg).  Because it possible to buy, off the shelf (as a “crate” engine), V8 engines with about the same power as a F1 power-plant generates, although there was be something a weight penalty, the potential does exist to build a two-seater roadster with a similar power-to-weight ratio and there are jurisdictions which even allow such a thing to be registered for use on public roads.  Opinions would differ on whether such a build is a good idea but the little machines, if the V8 was tuned more for low and mid-range torque rather than ultimate power, would seem to have great potential in competitions such as short-course events and hill-climbs although the dubious aerodynamics would render it less suited to high-speed tracks.

Art and money: Porsche 934 (left) by Benedict Radcliffe (b 1976) sold for US$249,002 while Comedian (a banana duct-taped to the wall, right) by Maurizio Cattelan (b 1960) realized US$6.2 million.

The exoskeleton concept inspired English artist and sculptor Benedict Radcliffe to create a number of small scale tubular steel sculptures in the shape of cars including the Lancia Stratos (1973-1978), Lamborghini Countach (1974-1990) and Ferrari F40 (1987-1992), mostly powdered-coated in lurid colors.  Usually, they sell for several thousand US dollars but in early 2025, one in 1:1 scale in the shape of a Porsche 934 sold for US$249,002; in a nod to history, it was painted in the same fluro-orange used for the Jägermeister livery used for the race cars in 1979-1977 and rolled on period-correct centre-locking BBS wheels shod with Avon slick tires.  At that price, it was little different from what one would pay for a new Porsche 911 GT3, straight from the showroom floor.  Still, it’s less than the US$1.5 million which is typical of what’s been paid in recent years on the rare occasions a 934 is offered for sale.  Produced between 1976-1977, Porsche built 31 934s, simply for the purpose of creating a version of the 930 (the 911 Turbo, 1975-1978) which would comply with the FIA Group 4 (GT Cars) rules (the 935 was the companion Group 5 (Special Production Cars) project).  The art market cannot be assessed with any form of conventional metrics but in paying a quarter-million odd for a tubular structure, one gets quite a lot compared with the Italian visual artist Maurizio Cattelan’s Comedian, (a banana duct-taped to the wall); a couple of months earlier, at auction, it had gone under the hammer for US$6.2 million.

Endoskeleton (pronounced en-doh-skel-i-tn)

(1) In zoology, the internal skeleton or framework of the body of an animal (generally the bony or cartilaginous skeleton of vertebrates).  Certain invertebrates, such as sponges and echinoderms, also have endoskeletons.

(2) For most (non-technical) purposes, a synonym for skeleton.

1838: The construct was endo- + skeleton  The prefix exo- was used as a word forming element in words of Greek origin meaning "outer, outside, outer part" and was used from the mid-nineteenth century.  It was from the Ancient Greek ἔξω (éxō) (outer; external) and was related to ex (out of).  Endoskeleton is used almost exclusively in the biological sciences.  For most general purposes, it’s synonymous with skeleton which is the default assumption of use because it’s familiar from humans and most familiar animals.  Endoskeleton is a noun; the noun plural is endoskeletons or endoskeleta.

The nicely defined shoulder blade and ribcage definition of Lindsay Lohan's endoskeleton.

The word endoskeleton may not have been needed had all creatures on earth had “conventional” skeletons like humans, cats, dogs, fish and such; there would have been just “skeletons”.  Of course, architects and engineers likely would have been unable to resist coining “exoskeleton” there seems no better word to describe an externally-located superstructure.  Both an endoskeleton and exoskeleton are structural frameworks to some degree (sometimes wholly) supporting and shaping an organism’s body and which form an animal evolved to adopt was a product of history and environment.  That’s best illustrated by those with hard outer shell (really the ultimate exoskeleton) which functions as a kind of armor-plate.  Among man-made objects, both models are used and easily identified although exoskeletons (such as the futtocks in nautical design) probably are more common in anything with a “skin” including buildings, aircraft and ships.

Endoskeleton cars

The Birdcage: The Maserati Tipo 60/61 (chassis #2549).

Endoskeleton cars are far from uncommon but some make the concept more obvious than others.  The Maserati Tipo 60/61 (1959-1961) gained the nickname “Birdcage” (by which it’s almost always known) because observers were much taken with the delicacy of the construction.  By the late 1950s, space-frames had become familiar to race-car builders but they were usually robust-looking arrangements whereas Maserati had rendered an intricate latticework of some 200 chromoly steel tubes welded often in triangulated form in the points of highest stress, the design delivering both lightness and rigidity.

Mercedes-Benz 300 SLR (W196S, upper) & 300 SL (W198, lower).

One of the reasons the Maserati’s skeleton looked so delicate was that the space-frame had become associated with Teutonic-flavored construction like that used by Mercedes-Benz for its 300 SL & 300 SLR.  Both shared the same method of construction but despite the names and the the visual similarity between the two, there were few common components beyond the nuts, bolts & screws.  The 300 SL (W198; 1954-1963) was a road car while the SLR (W196S; 1955) was a lengthened version of the W196R Formula One Grand Prix car with a sexy body and an enlarged (though somewhat detuned) straight-eight engine.  Despite appearing much more substantial than the Maserati's birdcage, the German space-frame was remarkably light.

Bathymetry

Bathymetry (pronounced buh-thim-i-tree)

(1) The science and practice of the measurement of the depths of oceans, seas, rivers or other large bodies of water.

(2) The data derived from such measurement, especially as compiled in a data set or topographic map.

1860–1865: The construct was bathy- + -metry.  The prefix bathy- (the alternative form in oceanography and related fields is batho-) was from the Ancient Greek βαθύς (bathús) (deep), zero-grade of the root of βένθος (bénthos), possibly from the primitive Indo-European gehd- (to sink, submerge) or perhaps cognate with the Sanskrit गाढ (gāḍha) (profound, intense, deep, dense, thick, fast, deep (of a color)).  Despite the appearance, it’s unrelated wither to βυσσός (bussós) or βυθός (buthós).  The construct of the suffix –metry (used to form nouns relating to measures and measurement) was -meter +‎ -y.  Metre was from the Ancient Greek μέτρον (métron) (measure), from the primitive Indo-European meh- (to measure) + -τρον (-tron) (a suffix denoting an instrument, as in ancient Greek ἄροτρον (plow) and familiar in English for the used in electronics and physics such as cyclotron.  The –y suffix is from the Middle English –y & -i, from the Old English -iġ (-y, -ic), from the Proto-Germanic -īgaz (-y, -ic), from the primitive Indo-European -kos, -ikos, & -iḱos (-y, -ic).  It was cognate with the Scots -ie (-y), the West Frisian -ich (-y), the Dutch -ig (-y), the Low German -ig (-y), the German -ig (-y), the Swedish -ig (-y), the Latin -icus (-y, -ic), the Sanskrit -इक (-ika) and the Ancient Greek -ικός (-ikós); a doublet of -ic.  The –y suffix was added to (1) nouns and adjectives to form adjectives meaning “having the quality of” and (2) verbs to form adjectives meaning "inclined to".

Bathymetry bathymetrist & bathymeter are nouns, bathymetric & bathymetrical are adjectives and bathymetrically is an adverb; the noun plural is bathymetries.  The derived noun paleobathymetry describes the bathymetry of prehistoric seas.  Paleo was from the Ancient Greek παλαιός (palaiós) (old), from πάλαι (pálai) (long ago).  Most etymologists suggest it was probably cognate with the Mycenaean Greek parajo, which is generally held to mean “old”.  If true, this connection hints at a link with the Proto-Hellenic palai(y)ós and casts doubt on the once often proposed etymology from the primitive Indo-European kwel.

In the UK, the Royal Navy's early use of bathymetric data was to add indications of depth to the Admiralty's charts, the most famous of which was the one which drew the "hundred fathom line" around the British Isles.

When coined in the mid-nineteenth century, bathymetry referred to the ocean's depth relative to sea level, reflecting the information available, given the technology of the time. In the twentieth century, it came to mean “sub-marine topography”, the rendering in images of the depths and shapes of underwater terrain.  In this it’s analogous with topographic maps of land masses which represent the three-dimensional features (or relief) of overland terrain.  Bathymetric maps typically represent variations in sea-floor relief by depicting the changes with color and contour lines called depth contours or isobaths.  Bathymetry provides the baseline data which made possible the modern discipline of hydrography which measures the physical features of a water body.  Hydrography compliments bathymetric data with measurements of the shape and features of shorelines, the characteristics of tides, currents and waves as well as the physical and chemical properties of the water itself.

Bathymetry is thus the study and mapping of the sea floor. It involves obtaining measurements of the depth of the ocean and is the equivalent to mapping the height of features on land.  Bathymetric data is used for a range of purposes including charting and ship navigation, fisheries management, establishing baseline data to support environmental monitoring, the determination of maritime boundaries, alternative energy assessments (most obviously regarding offshore wind and wave & tidal energy), research into coastal processes and ocean currents (the best known aspect of which is tsunami modelling, assessment of the environmental impact on marine geology of resource extraction proposals and the identification of geohazards, such as underwater landslides

Bathymetry map of East Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary (FGBNMS), a United States National Marine Sanctuary 100 nautical miles (190 km) off Galveston, Texas, in the north-western Gulf of Mexico.

However, despite the progress of over a century, relatively little is known about the sea floor compared with the surface of the Earth, the Moon and indeed many of the solar system’s other planets and moons.  By area, most map of the sea floor are derived from satellites an low resolution, provide only a vague indication of water depth although whatever the limitations, the technology is clever, the satellite altimetry measuring the height of the ocean surface.  If hills or maintains exist on the seabed at the point of the image, the gravitational pull around that area will be greater and hence the sea surface will bulge and from this measurement maps can be generated showing general features over a large area at low resolution.  More precise maps can be built using single beam echosounders which produce a single line of depth points directly under the equipment.  Taken usually from a moving vessel, they’re typically used to identify general sea floor patterns or schools of fish.  More accurate, high definition maps can be generated by using devices called multibeam echosounders (or swath echosounders) and airborne laser measurements (LADS) which capture swathes of data by acquiring multiple depth points in each area, these data grabbers are accurate to within 1 metre (39 inches).  It was a bathymetric survey which revealed the world’s tallest mountain is not Mount Everest but the Mauna Kea volcano on Hawaii.  Much of its base is on the ocean floor, some 6,000 m (19,685 feet) below the sea-surface and its peak is the highest point in the state of Hawaii, giving an overall height of 10,000 m (32,808 feet).  Mauna Kea is thus a significantly higher feature than Mount Everest which rises 8,800 m (28,870 feet) odd.

Bathymetry in progress: Lindsay Lohan with claw-footed bathtub, music video release of Confessions of a Broken Heart (Daughter to Father) (2005).

Modern electronics represent quite an advance over the nineteenth century techniques of bathymetric measurement which began with a heavy rope being thrown over the side of a ship, the only data gained being recording the length of rope it took to reach the seafloor.  These measurements were however incomplete, and prone to inaccuracy, the rope often shifted by sub-surface currents before reaching the seabed.  At best the data was indicative because the rope could measure depth only one point at a time and there was no way to tell if the point of impact was flat or sloping.  Depending on the area of interest, scientists would have needed dozens, hundreds or even thousands of measurements, something obviously rarely possible.  Accordingly, until the modern age, scientists and navigators estimated the topography of the seafloor and for experienced sailors, the hills and valleys were sometimes easy to predict but the sea can be deceptive and ocean trenches and sandbars often surprised navigators; many ships and cargos were lost to ships running aground.

Shrink

Shrink (pronounced shringk)

(1) To draw back, as in retreat or avoidance; to shrink from danger; to shrink from contact.

(2) To contract or lessen in size, as from exposure to conditions of temperature or moisture; to become reduced in extent or scope.

(3) A slang term for a psychotherapist, psychiatrist, or psychoanalyst (also (rarely) as shrinker and (historically) as head shrinker.

(4) In economics, as "shrinkflation" (the construct being shrink + (in)flation), a term describing the tactic of reducing the volume of a product (usually in the same packaging) while maintaining the price, thus an attempt to conceal the increase in the unit cost.   

Pre 900:  From the Middle English schrinken, from the Old English scrincan (to draw in the limbs, contract, shrivel up; wither, pine away (the past tense scranc, the past participle scruncen)), from the Proto-Germanic skrink and related to the Old Norse skrokkr (torso) & hrukka (a crease); cognate with Middle Dutch schrinken, the Old Swedish skrunkin (wrinkled), the Swedish skrynka (to shrink) & the Norwegian & Icelandic skrukka (old shrunken woman).  Root was probably the Proto-Germanic skrinkwaną from skrink-, probably from the primitive Indo-European sker- (to turn, bend).  Shrink is a noun & verb, shrinker & shrinkage are nouns, shrinking is a verb & adjective, shrinkable is an adjective and shrinkingly is an adverb; the noun plural is shrinks.  The used derived forms are shrank (noun & verb) and shrunk (verb & adjective).

Some shrinkage though never a shrinking violet: A shrunken Lindsay Lohan during "thin phase", 2005.

Shrink operated originally with the causal shrench (in the manner of drink/drench). The sense of "become reduced in size" emerged in the late thirteenth century, the meaning "draw back, recoil" attested since the early fourteenth, the speculation being it was suggested by the behavior of snails.  The transitive sense, "cause to shrink" is also from the late 1300s.  The noun shrinkage (act or fact of shrinking) dates from 1713 and was derived from the verb whereas the meaning "amount by which something has shrunk" wasn’t used until 1862.  The US slang for psychiatrists dates (in some form) from 1950 and shrink-wrap is from 1961, having replaced an earlier (1959) trade-name (shrinking-wrap) which never caught on.  In idiomatic use, "shrinking" often appears to suggest a quality of shyness or timidity.  The best known term is "shrinking violet" (a shy or timid person, who avoids contact with others) which emerged in the mid-nineteenth century, adopting the recently coined use in botany describing the violet (genus Viola) flower and plant.  In the popular imagination, a shrinking violet is a delicate, waif-like creature.

Madness and the Profession

The original use of “head-shrinker” was to describe members of the Jivaro tribe of Amazonia who preserved the heads of their enemies by stripping the skin from the skull, resulting in a shrunken mummified remnant the size of a fist.  Apparently an ancient practice, the term in this anthropological sense was first recorded in 1926 and it wasn’t until 1950 when it was documented that “head-shrinker” had become Hollywood slang for a psychiatrist.  Popular culture adopted the sense.  It was used in the film Rebel Without a Cause (1955), by SF writer Robert Heinlein (1907-1988) in Time For The Stars (1956) and was heard on Broadway in West Side Story (1957).  The first recorded use of “shrink” in this context was by Thomas Pynchon (b 1937) in his novel The Crying of Lot 49 (1965) although it’s not known if this was an invention by the author or an adoption of existing slang, many sources suggesting there exists anecdotal evidence to suggest the latter.

Sigmund Freud, enjoying just a cigar.

Nor has it ever been clear why “head shrinker” or the derived “shrink” became connected with psychiatry, the most common speculation being that the discipline, and especially psychoanalysis, was perceived to be most concerned with the shrinking of swollen egos, a perhaps not unjustified assumption in the show-business circles which provided a goodly percentage of the patients.  It may hint also at the not wholly universal acceptance of psychiatry as a legitimate speciality within medicine until well into the twentieth century (by which time psychiatrist had replaced alienist).  It was only with advances in diagnostic neurology and the increasing effectiveness of psychoactive drugs that psychiatry began to enjoy its current respectability within the profession.

Classic shrinkflation.  The Toblerone before & after.

The famous Toblerone chocolate bar is manufactured in Bern, Switzerland by Mondelez International and noted for its shape: a series of triangular prisms sitting atop an elongated base.  In 2016, the company reduced the volume of chocolate in some bars by increasing the gap between the distinctive triangles, thus cutting the net weight by about 10% while using the existing packaging.  It was a cost cutting exercise which lowered not only the cost of production but also some transportation fees (in those situations where freight charges were weight-based).  The RRP (recommended retail price) was unchanged.  The trick was not well-received in the market and within two years the prisims were moved back to their original positions, forcing the company to adopt other techniques such as moving some production to countries with lower labor costs.