robert arndt wrote:
Geoff May wrote in message ...

wrote:

[snipped]

The French seem to have formed the word "aero-plane" (1873) from two
earlier French craft- the Aeronave (1865) concept and the flying model
aircraft Penaud Planophore (1871). The flying Planophore was the most
influential design of the 19th century that inspired the great
aviation pioneers to build a full scale aeroplane/airplane for flight.

Rob
World Encylopedia of Civil Aviation

I asked on another news group about this one and this was the reply:

The Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology (1966) supports both the
Greek planos and the Latin planus by way of the French "plan."

However, the Oxford English Dictionary (1989) gives only the French
Latinate derivation. IMO this entry is the more convincing. The first
usage of aeroplane was in terms of the wing or plane itself. an 1866
article refers to the application of a beetles wings as aeroplanes and a
1902 article describes airships as a combination of "äerostat,
äeroplane, and propelling apparatus." Simultaneous to this, "aeroplane"
was being used to describe heavier than air craft to distinguish it from
all the other flying craft like balloons. *Switch to Mongolfier
brothers sketch*

Perhaps the idea of the planos origin came about because of the use of
the word as a verb as in "aeroplaning" to describe traveling about by
aeroplane. This usage would seem to be archaic, but maybe that is where
the confusion started.

/paste

MfG and thanks Toof,

Geoff.

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