Quote Originally Posted by george013 View Post
I'm only interested in plane from focal plane.I just didn't understand the meaning of some posts here.

From http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/de...lish/aeroplane

An aeroplane is literally an ‘air wanderer’. Coined in the late 19th century, the word is from French aéro- ‘air’ and Greek -planos ‘wandering’, and so the short form plane has the less-than-reassuring meaning of ‘wanderer’. See also plain, planet
George
Thanks for the alternative derivation for "plane" which I had not seen before.

In the Wiki, they go a bit further and allow either the Latin planus or the Greek planos:

First attested in English in the late 19th century (prior to the first sustained powered flight), the word airplane, like aeroplane, derives from the French aéroplane, which comes from the Greek ἀήρ (aēr), "air"[3] and either Latin planus, "level",[4] or Greek πλάνος (planos), "wandering".[5][6]
From the same source, this make a little more sense, IMHO.

"Aéroplane" originally referred just to the wing, as it is a plane moving through the air.[7] In an example of synecdoche, the word for the wing came to refer to the entire aircraft.