The ROOT of Z WORD "Zenith" in
Proto-Indo-European was reconstructed as '*mei-' ("to change"). In
Latin we find 'meare' ("to pass"). With the prefix 'sē-' ("aside") it became 'sēmeare' ("to branch off"). Then the noun 'sēmita' ("side-way") was formed.
[1] When the
Romans occupied
Syria, shortly before the time of Christ, the resident
Arameans adopted the word 'sēmita' as 'simta' ("side-way").
[2] The Romans left. As the
Arabians conquered the land in the seventh century they took the word 'simta' from the Arameans as 'samt' ("side-path") and also coined astronomical expressions.
[3] The word "zenith" derives from the inaccurate reading of the
Arabic expression
سمت الرأس (
samt ar-ra's), meaning "direction of the head" or "path above the head", by
Medieval Latin scribes in the
Middle Ages (during the 14th century), possibly through
Old Spanish. It was reduced to 'samt' ("direction") and miswritten as 'senit'/'cenit', as the "m" was misread as an "ni". Through the
Old French 'cenith', 'zenith' first appeared in the 17th century.
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