Atlas

See also: ATLAS, atlas, and atłas

English

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˈætləs/
  • Audio (Southern England):(file)
  • Rhymes: -ætləs
  • Homophone: atlas

Etymology 1

From Latin Ā̆tlās, from Ancient Greek Ἄτλας (Átlas), either from ἁ- (ha-, copulative prefix) + Proto-Indo-European *telh₂- (“bear, undergo, endure”) or of Pre-Greek origin.

Proper noun

Atlas (countable and uncountable, plural Atlases)

  1. (Greek mythology) The son of Iapetus and Clymene, war leader of the Titans ordered by the god Zeus to support the sky on his shoulders; father to the Hesperides, the Hyades, and the Pleiades; king of the legendary Atlantis.
  2. A placename:
    1. A place in the United States:
      1. An unincorporated community in Pike County, Illinois.
      2. A township in Genesee County, Michigan.
      3. An unincorporated community in Lamar County, Texas.
      4. An unincorporated community in Upshur County, West Virginia.
      5. An unincorporated community in Laketown, Polk County, Wisconsin.
    2. (astronomy) A moon of Saturn.
    3. (astronomy) A crater in the last quadrant of the moon.
    4. (astronomy) A triple star system in the Pleiades open cluster (M45) also known as 27 Tauri.
  3. (countable) A surname.
  4. (rocketry, military, US) An SM-65, an early ICBM, soon developed into a long-lived orbital launch vehicle series.
Derived terms
Translations

Noun

Atlas (plural Atlases)

  1. (rocketry, military, US) A particular model or individual specimen of the Atlas missile and launch vehicle line.

Etymology 2

From French Atlas. From the Ancient Greek Ἄτλας (Átlas), stemming from the belief that the mountain range is actually the body of the Titan Atlas after being turned to stone. The Berber languages exist in the region of the Atlas Mountains.

Proper noun

Atlas (plural Atlases)

  1. A subgroup of the Berber languages.
  2. Ellipsis of Atlas Mountains.

Etymology 3

Alteration of ATLAS

Proper noun

Atlas

  1. (astronomy) Alternative form of ATLAS.

Anagrams

Dutch

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin Atlas, from Ancient Greek Ἄτλας (Átlas).

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˈɑt.lɑs/
  • Audio:(file)
  • Hyphenation: At‧las

Proper noun

Atlas m

  1. (Greek mythology) Atlas (mythological giant)
  2. (uncommon) Atlas Mountains
    Synonym: Atlasgebergte
  3. (astronomy) Atlas (moon of Saturn)

Derived terms

French

Etymology

Learned borrowing from Latin Atlas, from Ancient Greek Ἄτλας (Átlas).

Pronunciation

Proper noun

Atlas m

  1. (Greek mythology) Atlas (son of Iapetus and Clymene, leader of the Titans ordered by Zeus to support the sky on his shoulders)
  2. (astronomy) Atlas (moon of Saturn)
  3. (astronomy) Atlas (star in the Pleiades)
  4. (astronomy) Atlas (crater in the first quadrant of the moon)
  5. Atlas Mountains

Derived terms

German

Pronunciation

Etymology 1

Borrowed from Latin Atlās or from Ancient Greek Ἄτλας (Átlas), from the name of the mythological figure Ἄτλας (Átlas, “Bearer (of the Heavens)”).

Noun

Atlas m (strong, genitive Atlas or Atlasses or Atlanten, plural Atlanten)

  1. (cartography or reference work) atlas (bound collection of maps)
    • 1902, Geologisches Centralblatt, volume 2, page 17:
      In diesem System der Arbeitstheilung, sowie in der ungenügenden topographischen Grundlage 1 : 50 000 liegt auch die Schwäche des Atlasses, der gleichwohl für jene Zeit ein hervorragendes Werk darstellte.
      (please add an English translation of this quotation)
  2. atlas (bound collection of tables, illustrations on any subject)
    • 2008, Frank H. Netter, translated by Roland Mühlbauer, Atlas der Anatomie, fourth edition, →ISBN, preface:
      Jeder von ihnen hat einen Abschnitt des Atlanten gegengelesen, korrigiert und auf den neuesten Stand gebracht.
      Each one of them checked, corrected, and brought a chapter of the atlas up to date.
  3. (uncommon) atlas (figure of a man used as a column)
    Synonym: Atlant
Declension
Declension of Atlas [masculine, strong]
singular plural
indef. def. noun def. noun
nominative ein der Atlas die Atlanten
genitive eines des Atlas, Atlasses, Atlanten der Atlanten
dative einem dem Atlas, Atlasse1 den Atlanten
accusative einen den Atlas die Atlanten

1Now rare, see notes.

Noun

Atlas m (strong, genitive Atlas or Atlasses or Atlanten, plural Atlasse)

  1. (medicine) atlas (uppermost vertebra of the neck)
    • 1893, A. Lücke, E. Rose, editors, Deutsche Zeitschrift für Chirurgie, volume 35, page 559:
      Halswirbel zeigt sich an der rechten unteren Gelenkfläche des Atlas eine leicht bogenförmige, usurirte [sic] Linie im Gelenkknorpel: […]
      The cervical vertebra manifests on the right anterior articular surface of the atlas a slightly arcuate, abraded line in the articular cartilage: […]
Declension
Declension of Atlas [masculine, strong]
singular plural
indef. def. noun def. noun
nominative ein der Atlas die Atlasse
genitive eines des Atlas, Atlasses, Atlanten der Atlasse
dative einem dem Atlas, Atlasse1 den Atlassen
accusative einen den Atlas die Atlasse

1Now rare, see notes.

Proper noun

der Atlas m (proper noun, strong, usually definite, definite genitive des Atlas or des Atlasses or des Atlanten)

  1. the Atlas Mountains (a mountain range in northwestern Africa)
Declension
Declension of Atlas [sg-only, masculine, strong]
singular
def. noun
nominative der Atlas
genitive des Atlas, Atlasses, Atlanten
dative dem Atlas, Atlasse1
accusative den Atlas

1Now rare, see notes.

Proper noun

Atlas m (proper noun, strong, genitive Atlas' or (with an article) Atlas)

  1. (astronomy) Atlas (moon of Saturn)
  2. (astronomy) Atlas (star in the Pleiades)
  3. (astronomy) Atlas (crater in the first quadrant of the moon)
Declension
Declension of Atlas [sg-only, masculine, strong]
singular
indef. def. noun
nominative ein der Atlas
genitive eines des Atlas', Atlas1
dative einem dem Atlas
accusative einen den Atlas

1With an article.

Proper noun

Atlas m (proper noun, strong, genitive Atlas', plural Atlasse)

  1. (Greek mythology) Atlas (son of Iapetus and Clymene, leader of the Titans ordered by Zeus to support the sky on his shoulders)
  2. an unknown-gender given name
Declension
Declension of Atlas [masculine, strong]
singular plural
indef. def. noun def. noun
nominative ein der Atlas die Atlasse
genitive eines des Atlas' der Atlasse
dative einem dem Atlas den Atlassen
accusative einen den Atlas die Atlasse

Proper noun

Atlas m or f (proper noun, surname, masculine genitive Atlas' or (with an article) Atlas, feminine genitive Atlas, plural Atlas or Atlasens)

  1. a surname
Declension
Declension of Atlas [masculine // feminine, surname]
singular plural
masculine feminine
indef. def. noun indef. def. noun def. noun
nominative (ein) (der) Atlas (eine) (die) Atlas (die) Atlas, Atlasens
genitive (eines) (des) Atlas', Atlas1 (einer) (der) Atlas (der) Atlas, Atlasens
dative (einem) (dem) Atlas (einer) (der) Atlas (den) Atlas, Atlasens
accusative (einen) (den) Atlas (eine) (die) Atlas (die) Atlas, Atlasens

1With an article.

Proper noun

die Atlas f (proper noun, usually definite, definite genitive der Atlas)

  1. Atlas (family of US intercontinental ballistic missiles)
Declension
Declension of Atlas [sg-only, feminine]
singular
def. noun
nominative die Atlas
genitive der Atlas
dative der Atlas
accusative die Atlas

Etymology 2

Borrowed from Arabic أَطْلَس (ʔaṭlas).

Noun

Atlas m (strong, genitive Atlas or Atlasses, no plural)

  1. atlas satin
Declension
Declension of Atlas [sg-only, masculine, strong]
singular
indef. def. noun
nominative ein der Atlas
genitive eines des Atlas, Atlasses
dative einem dem Atlas, Atlasse1
accusative einen den Atlas

1Now rare, see notes.

Derived terms

Further reading

  • “Atlas”, in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache‎[1] (in German)

Latin

Etymology

    From the name of the Ancient Greek mythological figure Ἄτλας (Átlas, “Bearer (of the Heavens)”).

    Pronunciation

    Proper noun

    Ā̆tlās m (genitive Ā̆tlantis); third declension

    1. a mountain in the Atlas Mountain Range in the former Kingdom of Mauretania, said to support the heavens
      • 29 BCE – 19 BCE, Vergilius, Aeneis 4.246–251:
        [...] iamque volāns apicem et latera ardua cernit / Ātlantis dūrī, caelum quī vertice fulcit; / Ātlantis, cīnctum adsiduē cui nūbibus ātrīs / pīniferum caput et ventō pulsātur et imbrī, / nix umerōs īnfūsa tegit; tum flūmina mentō / praecipitant senis, et glaciē riget horrida barba.
        [...] And now as he flies, [Mercury] sees the peak and steep sides of Atlas the enduring, whose top props up the sky; of Atlas, whose pine-clad head is ever girt with dark clouds, and battered by wind and rain, [and] his shoulders laden with fallen snow; [then,] further on, rivers pour down his aged chin, and his bristly beard is stiff with ice.
        (This personification blends aspects of both the Titan and the mountain; see also: epanalepsis.)
    2. (Greek mythology) the Titan Atlas
      • Ovid Metamorphoses with an English translation by Frank Justus Miller. In two volumes, I, books I–VIII, 1951, page 224–225 containing Ovidus' Metamorphoses IV, 644–645:
        "tempus, Atla, veniet, tua quo spoliabitur auro
        arbor, et hunc praedae titulum Iove natus habebit."
        "Atlas, the time will come when your tree will be spoiled of its gold, and he who gets the glory of this spoil will be Jove's son."

    Declension

    Third-declension noun.

    Derived terms

    Descendants

    • Portuguese: Atlas
    • Spanish: Atlas

    References

    • “Ā̆tlās”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
    • “Atlas”, in Gaffiot, Félix (1934), Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.

    Luxembourgish

    Etymology

    From Latin Atlas, from Ancient Greek Ἄτλας (Átlas).

    Noun

    Atlas m (plural Atlassen)

    1. atlas

    Further reading

    • Atlas in the Lëtzebuerger Online Dictionnaire

    Polish

    Etymology

      Learned borrowing from Latin Ā̆tlās.

      Pronunciation

      • IPA(key): /ˈa.tlas/
      • Audio:(file)
      • Rhymes: -atlas
      • Syllabification: A‧tlas
      • Homophone: atlas

      Proper noun

      Atlas m pers

      1. (Greek mythology) Atlas (titan who holds the sky)

      Declension

      Declension of Atlas
      singular
      nominative Atlas
      genitive Atlasa
      dative Atlasowi
      accusative Atlasa
      instrumental Atlasem
      locative Atlasie
      vocative Atlasie

      Further reading

      • “Atlas”, in Polish dictionaries at PWN‎[2] (in Polish)
      • Atlas in PWN's encyclopedia

      Portuguese

      Atlas

      Etymology

      Borrowed from Latin Atlas, from Ancient Greek Ἄτλας (Átlas, literally “The Bearer (of the Heavens)”), from Ἄ (Á, copulative prefix) + τλῆναι (tlênai, “to suffer, to endure, to bear”), from Proto-Indo-European *telh₂- (“to support, lift, weigh”).

      Pronunciation

       

      • Homophone: atlas
      • Hyphenation: A‧tlas

      Proper noun

      Atlas m

      1. (Greek mythology) Atlas (titan who holds the sky)

      Proper noun

      Atlas f

      1. (astronomy) Atlas (a moon of Saturn)

      Proper noun

      Atlas m pl (plural only)

      1. Atlas Mountains (a mountain range in northwestern Africa)

      Derived terms

      Spanish

      Etymology

        Learned borrowing from Latin Atlās, borrowed from Ancient Greek Ἄτλᾱς (Átlās).

        Pronunciation

        • IPA(key): /ˈatlas/ [ˈa.t̪las]
        • Rhymes: -atlas
        • Syllabification: A‧tlas

        Proper noun

        Atlas m

        1. (Greek mythology) Atlas (titan who holds the sky)

        Derived terms

        Proper noun

        Atlas m pl (plural only)

        1. Atlas Mountains (a mountain range in northwestern Africa, occupying portions of Morocco, Algeria, and Tunisia)

        Turkish

        Proper noun

        Atlas

        1. (Greek mythology) Atlas