Word of the Month — Aviation

September 2021 – You may have expected the word “aviation” to have always been around. Apparently not!

The word was actually created in 1863 by a French former naval officer and writer by the name of Gabriel La Landelle. He tried to create a new verb, avier, “to fly,” but it didn't catch on. The present-day verb is “voler” and a flight is a “vol,” but “aviation” did stick and it's essentially the same word in both languages.

The origin of the word is the Latin word for bird (avis) with the common suffix -ation added. Note that's not AVIS, the rental car company.

Maybe his idea didn't work out because there was already a word “avis” in French, meaning “opinion” or “advice.”.