this post was submitted on 07 Apr 2026
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Science Memes

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[–] lime@feddit.nu 14 points 1 day ago (2 children)
[–] Limerance@piefed.social 25 points 1 day ago (2 children)
[–] CombatWombat@feddit.online 7 points 23 hours ago (1 children)

If the "pa" part of "companion" comes from path it's basically exactly the same: "s" and "co" are both "with" and "nik" and "ion" are similar noun endings.

[–] balsoft@lemmy.ml 1 points 9 hours ago

If the “pa” part of “companion” comes from path

It doesn't though, it comes from French compagnon/compaignon and then Latin com (with) + panis (bread). It probably originally meant "someone with whom you share bread (eat together)".

And actually, looking at wiktionary, Old English had a word "ġefēra" (with the same meaning) which is constructed very similarly to "спутник": ge ('with', still the same prefix in german e.g. ‎Gebrüder) + fera ('to go'/'to fare', e.g. in seafaring)

[–] WhyIHateTheInternet@lemmy.world 2 points 1 day ago (1 children)
[–] Viking_Hippie@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 points 23 hours ago (1 children)
[–] TachyonTele@piefed.social 2 points 21 hours ago
[–] CombatWombat@feddit.online 6 points 1 day ago (2 children)

I might translate it that way in some contexts, but if you told me Lewis and Clark were "sputniks" I'd assume you meant they got married in secret, rather than that they were explorers.

[–] HeyThisIsntTheYMCA@lemmy.world 1 points 17 hours ago

Especially now that I found out it involves a bacon cheese sausage somehow

[–] SubArcticTundra@lemmy.ml 2 points 22 hours ago (1 children)

It's strange they called it a 'companion' of any sort since it was the sole first satellite in space

[–] RustySharp@programming.dev 6 points 21 hours ago

As in, a companion to the planet.

Moons are satellites.

Satellite: from Latin satellitem (nominative satelles) "an attendant" upon a distinguished person; "a body-guard, a courtier; an assistant"