firmament
Part of speech: noun
Morphological type: simple
Topics: astronomy
natural-sciences
Etymology: From Middle English firmament, furmament (“heaven; sky”), from Old French firmament (“firmament”), or from its etymon Latin firmāmentum (“support; sky”), from
firmāre (“to strengthen”) + -mentum (suffix indicating an instrument or medium, or the result of an action). Firmāre is the present active infinitive of firmō (“to make firm, strengthen”), from firmus (“firm, strong, stable”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *dʰer- (“to hold; to support”).
The Latin word was used in the Vulgate version of the Bible to translate the
Ancient Greek στερέωμα (steréōma, “foundation, framework; firmament”) in the Septuagint (Greek Old Testament), which in turn was used to translate the Hebrew רָקִיעַ (rāqī́aʿ, “celestial dome, vault of heaven”), from the root ר־ק־ע (r-q-`); in Classical Syriac the similar root ܪ ܩ ܥ (related to compacting) gave rise to ܪܩܝܥܐ (rəqīʿā, “compact; firm; firmament, heavens, sky; celestial sphere”).
Inflected forms:
form: firmaments
pos: noun
tags: plural
Senses:
gloss: The vault of the heavens, where the clouds, sun, moon, and stars can be seen; the heavens, the sky.
pos: noun
tags: also
figuratively
literary
poetic
uncountable
usually
examples: And thei that be wiſe, ſhal ſhine, as the brightnes of the firmament: & they that turne to righteouſnes, ſhal ſhine as the ſtarres, for euer and euer.
[T]his moſt excellent Canopie the ayre, looke you, this braue orehanging firmament, this maieſticall roofe fretted with golden fire, why it appeareth nothing to me but a foule and peſtilent congregation of vapoures.
Now to ye all, be firmaments to ſtars, / Be ſtars to Firmaments, and as you are / Splendent, ſo be fixed, not wandring, nor / Irregular, both keeping courſe together, [...]
And God ſaid, Let there be a firmament in the midſt of the waters: and let it diuide the waters from the waters. And God made the firmament; and diuided the waters, which were under the firmament, from the waters, which were aboue the firmament: and it was ſo. And God called the firmament, Heauen: and the euening and the morning were the ſecond day.
[W]hat if all / Her ſtores were op'n'd, and this Firmament / Of Hell ſhould ſpout her Cataracts of Fire, [...]
There are Crowns of Glory to be given us; and Garments that will make us ſhine like the Sun in the Firmament of Heaven.
On Nature's Alps I ſtand, / And ſee a Thouſand Firmaments beneath!
And far above the gentle moon sails on / Through the blue firmament. It is a scene / That gives that spot of earth the air of Heav'n!
Some of his [Confucius's] philosophical principles are, [...] that the cause or principle of things must have had a co-existence with the things themselves; [...] and that the central point of influence, from which this cause chiefly acts, is the blue firmament (tien), whence its emanations are spread over the universe; [...] the sun, moon, stars, and elements, are considered also as composing the firmament, or Teen, as the immediate agents of the Deity, and as the productive powers in creation.
But there was no spirit of denial in Caleb, and the world seemed so wondrous to him that he was ready to accept any number of systems, like any number of firmaments, if they did not obviously interfere with the best land-drainage, solid building, correct measuring, and judicious boring (for coal).
On its far side, on the very horizon of the world, stood purple mountains, so tall and sharp that they bridged the firmaments.
The feeling I dread the most is not fear but despair—the dim, oppressive sense that the more things change, the more they stay the same; that each of us with a frozen heart "like an old-stone savage armed" will continue to move in darkness, lifting boulders, patrolling the firmaments of divisive anger.
[...] 'The Morning Star' and 'The Evening Star' have the same celestial object as Bedeutung, but present that object in different ways, perhaps in one case as the object that appears in such and such a place in the morning firmament and in the other as the object that appears in such and such a place in the evening firmament.
gloss: The field or sphere of an activity or interest.
pos: noun
tags: countable
examples: the international fashion firmament
Europe dominated foreign policy concerns, followed by the Near East and China, where General George C[atlett] Marshall tried, in vain, to mediate a civil war. Japan glowed dimly in the foreign policy firmament.
By this time, Seaford was a town of 2,000 people, and, in the next decade, the poultry industry became a rising star in the firmament of economic growth as new housing and feeding techniques were introduced.
She [Anna Pavlova] provided articulate, well-thought-out and educational interviews and articles from her first appearances in which she would lay out her life story, the course of her training, the place of ballet in the European and Russian artistic firmaments.
gloss: In the geocentric Ptolemaic system, the eighth celestial sphere which carried the fixed stars; (countable, by extension) any celestial sphere.
pos: noun
tags: historical
uncountable
examples: [B]etweene the ſphere of Saturne and the Firmament, there is ſuch an incredible and vaſt ſpace or diſtance (7000000. ſemidiameters of the earth, as Tycho [Brahe] calculates) void of ſtarres: [...]
But if we yet rise higher, and consider the fixed stars as so many vast oceans of flame, that are each of them attended with a different set of planets, and still discover new firmaments and new lights, that are sunk farther in those unfathomable depths of ether, so as not to be seen by the strongest of our telescopes, we are lost in such a labyrinth of suns and worlds, and confounded with the immensity and magnificence of nature.
The World Cœlestial. Containing 11 Sphæres or Heavens, ſay the Theologians and Aſtronomers. [...] Theſe are called the Primum Mobile, the Chriſtaline Heaven, the Firmament adorned with the Fixed Stars, and the Heavens of the Seven Planets.
gloss: The abode of God and the angels; heaven.
pos: noun
tags: uncountable
examples: Praiſe ye the Lord. Praiſe God in his Sanctuarie: Praiſe him in the firmament of his power.
gloss: A piece of jewellery worn in a headdress with numerous gems resembling stars in the sky.
pos: noun
tags: countable
obsolete
examples: Pins tipt with Diamond Point, and head, / By which the Curls are faſtened, / In radiant Firmament ſet out, / And all over the Hood ſur-tout: [...]
Firmament. Diamonds, or other precious Stones heading the Pins which they stick into the Tour, and Hair, like Stars.
gloss: A basis or foundation; a support.
pos: noun
tags: also
countable
figuratively
obsolete
examples: Ten years ago, the Wall Street wirehouse brokerage firm seemed unassailable – part of the very firmament underpinning the entire investment industry from coast to coast.
gloss: The act or process of making firm or strengthening.
pos: noun
tags: countable
obsolete
Derived words: firmamental
firmamentary
firmament-wards
unfirmamented
Translations: