Astronaut /Cosmonaut

[SC00BY]

What is the difference between an astronaut and a cosmonaut? Is there a difference?

Cheers

[campbellking]

Astronauts are usually from U.S.A. or European countries etc, cosmonauts from the old eastern european block i.e. Russia

[Quizmonster]

There's no real difference in meaning, as both words are based on the Greek word 'nautes' = sailor. The other parts are also Greek in origin, with 'astron' = star and 'kosmos' = universe. So, American spacemen are 'star-sailors' and Russian ones are 'universe-sailors'.

[rojash]

I dunno about ancient Greek QM, but in modern Greek Kosmos means the world.

I always thought the naming was like this: Cosmonauts were so called because they orbited the earth. Astronauts were so called because the Americans like to exagerate ( as in "World Series" when they mean "National Series")

[KebabMeister]

World Series was apparently the sponsor of baseball, not that fact that they thought it was global.

[rojash]

Not according to "A Comprehensive History of the World Series by Baseball Almanac", KebabMeister. Have a look here:
http://www.baseball-almanac.com/ws/wsmenu.shtml

[Quizmonster]

According to The Oxford English Dictionary's definition and etymology of the word 'cosmos', Rojash - the 'c' being an anglicisation of the original 'k', of course - it means (quote) "order, ornament, world or universe". Basically, it implies order as opposed to chaos. Thus, both the world and the universe as a whole are considered to be 'ordered' systems. Given that some of these guys have landed on the moon...ie a 'world' other than the earth...I think the 'universe' aspect rather than just the 'world' aspect is key.
(I'm afraid I don't know modern Greek, so I cannot comment on that aspect.) Cheers

[rojash]

Though it's difficult to imagine the Russions consulting The Oxford English Dictionary before naming their spacemen, QM
:-)

[CT]

And to add to this, Chinese space travellers are called Taikonauts.

[Quizmonster]

Dear Rojash, I'm pretty sure Russian etymologists and lexicographers are as aware of the original meaning of 'kosmos' as the scholars at TOED are! (Sadly, I don't know modern - or even ancient - Russian either!)

[tubeway]

The proof that Americams exagerrate is that they call their version of Miss World - Miss Universe. How much more can you exaggerate by.