There is such an interesting linguistic phenomenon as homography. The name comes from the Greek words "the same" and "I write." Homographs are words or word forms that are depicted identically in a letter, but their pronunciation is different due to the difference in stress. In another way they are called graphic homonyms. They arise completely by accident, no one creates them purposefully. A striking example of this phenomenon is the atlas token.
Meaning of the word
So what is an atlas? Dictionaries give at least four different meanings. Two of them are proper names, while the others are common nouns.
Atlas is:
- smooth silk fabric;
- name of an ancient Greek deity;
- collection of maps;
- the name of the mountains in northwest Africa.
The meaning of each individual homograph differs from the meaning of the other, and it is difficult to find lexical points of contact between them. It is interesting that each of the words is borrowed in its origin, but from different languages.
Now about each of these values in more detail.
the cloth
In this case, the stress falls on the second syllable, although many do not know about it.
Atlas is a dense silk or semi-silk material with a gloss. It shimmers beautifully, since its front side is shiny.
The word comes from the Arabic word for “smoothing”, which is pretty logical, because the satin fabric is really nice to the touch, sliding, flowing. But it got into the Russian language for a long time and, most likely, through German or Polish. In the inventory of Boris Godunov’s property dating back to 1589, the word "broke off" is found. Consequently, at least then in Russia they were familiar with this material. Over time, the word itself was transformed a little and acquired the spelling and sound familiar to a modern person.
Derived words (for example, the adjective "satin") retain emphasis on the second syllable.
Name of god
The Atlas is a titan from ancient Greek mythology that held the firmament and the whole earth on its shoulders. True, it is better known as Atlas. Such a heavy burden is a punishment from Zeus for disobedience. The following two meanings of the token are closely related to this proper name.
Meaning of the word atlas: collection of maps
In this case, not the second, but the first vowel "a" is stressed. This word designates a collection of geographical, anatomical, linguistic maps. Most often it is issued as an appendix to scientific books. Such a collection of cards can be in binding or in separate sheets. Usually each of them has a short heading or explanatory text. The atlas may also contain tables or figures.
For the first time this word appeared in Russian almost 500 years ago thanks to the work of the cartographer Kremer, who called his book an atlas. The name comes from the already mentioned name of the ancient Greek god Atlas, or Atlas. The image of this titanium was on the cover of Kremer's work. After 200 years, in 1734, the first Russian atlas was published. So called the collection of geographical maps of the Russian Empire. This word has taken root without problems in Russian. Although initially the atlas was called collections of only geographical maps, but over time it began to be used in relation to the field of anatomy, astronomy, linguistics.
Geographical name
This is also called the mountain range in Africa. It is located in countries such as Algeria, Tunisia, Morocco. The mountain range with a total length of 2000 km consists of the ridges Tell Atlas, High Atlas, Middle Atlas and Sahara Atlas.
This toponym is also associated with the name of the titan Atlanta. Here the analogy is simple: it was believed that the mountains with their peaks rest against the firmament itself. With firm confidence, we can say that they got their name for a reason. In particular, the High Atlas Range is the site of the highest concentration of the largest peaks in Africa. It extends from the plains of the Atlantic to Algeria. The average height of the mountains is 3-4 km, and the peak is Jebel Tubkal (4165 m).
It is also interesting that the Europeans called the Atlas Mountains , and the locals gave completely different names to the individual ridges of this tectonic system. And no wonder, because ancient Greek myths and legends were not widespread in Africa.
Knowing such subtleties, you can enrich the lexical arsenal and be sure of the correct pronunciation of the word.