Geometry Question

[Tarser]

Half a circle is a SEMI circle. Half of a lot of things are SEMI - semi-final, semi-breve etc. - so why is half a sphere a HEMISPHERE and not a semisphere?

[carrust]

It comes from the Greek god Hemistious who had only half a testicle.....

[jim360]

The word semisphere was, apparently, invented at around the same time. But clearly it didn't catch on. So the answer is, like everything else about the English language, it just felt more right for some reason. Or Hemisphere just caught on and semisphere didn't. Nothing more profound than that.

[Fitzer]

Hemi is from the Greek and Semi from the Latin and theoretically words of Greek origin go with hemi and those of Latin with semi but that kind of gets blown out of the water as the word circle comes from the Greek and since this question is titled as geometry I shall finish by saying "Go figure!" :-)

[heathfield]

Don't forget another alternative, 'demi', from Latin 'dimidius' meaning 'divided in half '.

[Old_Geezer]

Is a demisemihemisphere an eighth of one then ?

[Calibax]

Could be OG. an eighth of a quaver is a hemidemisemiquaver.

[THECORBYLOON]

You'd get a lot of them in a bag...

[Peter Pedant]

The words from Latin and Greek should be partitioned

but sometimes the roots mix - television comes to mind
It is just a equestion of usage and custom - as usual

I remember my acute disappointment that the edge of a circle was circumference and not perimeter - aged 8
that is just how it is - rest of class giggles and titters
oh thos were the days