What does "interstellar" mean? Many people have asked this question after watching the masterpiece of the same name from Christopher Nolan. The article will tell in detail about the meaning of the word, the history of its occurrence, as well as the reasons for the popularity of the term among creative people.
Word
The meaning of the word "interstellar" is pretty easy to figure out. This is a compound word inherent in the English language. Usually, in European languages, no new term is invented to denote a specific phenomenon, but a phrase is created from two or more words written together, which are already widespread in language practice.
"Interstellar" is a word you see quite often in the writings of English-speaking physicists and astronomers. It is directly related to the field of study of cosmic depths, as well as processes occurring in the Universe. The term is used in the theoretical reports of mathematicians, designed to explain the mathematical nature of matter.
Origin
"Interstellar" is a term coinedfrom two English words. "Inter", the first part of the word, means "through", "in", "through" or "between". "Stellar" is a "star", "a luminous body". Both words are directly related to the scientific field and are often used in astronomy and physics, but until 2014 they practically did not meet together. Thus, it can be argued that "interstellar" means "interstellar" or "through the stars". The first option sounds literary, but the second one conveys the meaning more accurately.
Dictionary
The above word is not in the famous Oxford Dictionary, nor is it in other periodicals in English dictionaries. The thing is that serious academic dictionaries are not reprinted every year, but come out every ten or even twenty years. Making changes to this kind of dictionary is not an easy task: to discuss each change, an academic council consisting of experienced philologists and linguists decides whether a particular word can be included in the official dictionary of England.
Perhaps, in the coming decades, with the next reprint of the leading dictionaries of Foggy Albion, the word "interstellar" will be included in one of them.
Screening
In 2014, the legendary director Christopher Nolan released the film of the same name, the plot of which explained to the audience almost verbatim what the word “interstellar” means.
The film tells about a black hole in the space-time continuum, allowing a person to simultaneously be in severalplaces, and not only in the present tense, but also in the past, in the future.
Leading physicists and astronomers of Europe participated in the development of the script for the film. One of them, Kip Thorne, who once worked with Stephen Hawking, even released a brochure describing in simple terms the scientific component of the film.
The film is about an environmental catastrophe that is about to happen in the future due to the low concentration of oxygen in the Earth's atmosphere. The planet is being torn apart by cataclysms, the climate is rapidly deteriorating, living conditions are becoming unbearable.
A former NASA pilot, Cooper, is offered to explore a wormhole in space. There is a small chance that it will be possible to arrange a new home there, in which it will be possible to relocate all of humanity from the dying Earth.
What does "interstellar" mean to the filmmakers? Obviously, the scriptwriters understand this word as a new home for all people on earth, a home that is located in a cluster of stars and travels in the Universe. Maybe the authors had in mind the fact that every person, first of all, is a citizen of the Universe. Its main purpose is to keep peace and tranquility in it.
Treatment of film adaptation
The film should be taken as a scientific parable, and not as a stand-alone work of art. The picture is based on real events, all the scientific hypotheses shown in it actually exist.
Popularity
Obviously, the word "interstellar" was brought to some fame by the eponymousmovie. Many artists began to call this term their works of art. Also, the word has become entrenched in scientific circles and, apparently, will even fall into the famous Oxford Dictionary, which is always open for various interesting innovations.
The meaning of the word "interstellar" did not play any role in the popularity of the term at all. Thanks to the beautiful sound and the certain style and charm inherent in each of its parts, the term has become popular not only in scientific, but also in creative circles.
Many artists have begun to use the term as titles for music albums, concert programs or poetry collections. Some creative people who do this consciously refer the reader or listener to Nolan's work, and some do so unconsciously, just as an experiment.
What does "interstellar" mean for an ordinary person, an average person? Obviously, this word has some kind of magical power of cosmic attraction, since so many people on earth like it. Maybe it simply expresses the inner craving of each of us to conquer the bottomless spaces of space?
