The "Antarctick" -- Interesting in Name, Condition, and Vital to Human Life

 

Our week’s word of interest is “antarctick.” This is certainly a word with which many people are familiar – especially if they are an ornithophile (and of one species in particular). However, there are a few interesting matters associated with the actual word. Johnson defines it as “The southern pole, so called, as opposite to the northern.” Further, he writes that it derives from two Greek roots: ἀντί (anti) and ἄρκτος (arktos). The prefix anti is often used in the English lexicon and is a term of opposition. Indeed, the original sense of the Greek, from which the English is borrowed, is “over against” or opposite. The second Greek word, ἄρκτος (arktos), means “bear, esp[ecially] Ursus arctos, brown bear” as used by Herodotus, the fifth century BC Greek historian, when he described the western parts of ancient Libya being full of wild beasts such as “οἱ ἐλέφαντές τε καὶ ἄρκτοι” (elephants and bears) in his Histories (4.191). The Greek term also relates to the constellation in the northern sky, Ursa Major and the North generally (Can you hear Arctic in ἄρκτος?). It is to the North that Johnson subscribes his use of the Greek noun. When he joins ἀντί and ἄρκτος he is literally saying “opposite the North.” Of course, this is exactly the geographic position of Antarctica, in the South, compared to the Arctic, in the North.

Interestingly, when considering the Arctic, the North country, and bears, one might assume that Ursus arctos (quite literally North bear) would be the taxonomic designation given to polar bears but that is not the case. Polar bears are Thalarctos maritimus – Thalarctos meaning sea-bear and incidentally taken from the Greek words for "sea" and "bear." Certainly such a classification is apt, for polar bears are supremely bears of the sea, whereas, brown bears may live in northern reaches but are not seagoing by choice.

Antarctica is worthy of consideration for many reasons. It is the only continent on the planet unsuited to permanent human settlement. The harshest conditions of land and sea are found there and one the seas about it. Antarctica is the coldest place on Earth and exceedingly dry. How then is there so much accumulated snow and ice on the continent? The answer is simple – what falls hardy ever melts!

Given the connections between ἄρκτος, bears, and the Artic that Antarctica would have indigenous bears, but no bears live on Antarctica. Actually, there are few species that live on Antarctica, even for part of the year, compared to the other continents – a testament to the extreme conditions. Though the land has few inhabitants, the surrounding seas teem with life throughout the year and the cyclical temperature changes of the Antarctic waters fuel the oceans of the world.

There is a great deal more to “antarctick” than merely the pole opposite that in the North, though that limited description is true. The habitat and environmental processes unique to Antarctica and its seas are vital to a properly functioning Earth and thus to the well-being of human beings. Though easily lost from the minds of many, our most southerly continent is worthy of consideration in name and substance.