There is such an interesting linguistic phenomenon,as homography. The name comes from the Greek words "the same" and "write." Omographs are words or word forms that are identical in the letter, but their pronunciation is different due to the difference in stress. Differently they are called graphic homonyms. They arise completely by chance, no one creates them purposefully. A vivid example of such a phenomenon is the token "atlas".
So what is an atlas? Dictionaries give at least four different meanings. Two of them are proper names, others are common nouns.
Atlas is:
The meaning of each individual homograph differs fromthe meanings of the other, and it is difficult to find lexical points of contact between them. Interestingly, each of the words is borrowed in its origin, but from different languages.
Now about each of these values in more detail.
In this case, the stress falls on the second syllable, although many do not know about it.
Atlas is a dense silk or semi-silk material with gloss. He shimmers beautifully, since his face is shiny.
The word comes from the Arabic "smooth", whichquite logical, because the satin fabric is really pleasant to the touch, sliding, flowing. But it got into Russian a long time ago and, most likely, through German or Polish. In the inventory of the property of Boris Godunov, dating back to 1589, the word "has disappeared" is found. Consequently, at least already in Russia they were familiar with this material. The word itself with time was transformed a bit and acquired the usual for modern man writing and sound.
Derived words (for example, the adjective "satin") retain the stress on the second syllable.
Atlas is a titan from ancient Greek mythology,who held on his shoulders the sky and the whole earth. True, he is better known as Atlant. Such a heavy burden is a punishment from Zeus for disobedience. Two following values of the discussed lexeme are closely associated with this proper name.
In this case, not the second, but the first vowel "a"is a shock. Such a word means a collection of geographical, anatomical, linguistic maps. Most often, it is issued as an attachment to scientific books. Such a collection of cards can be bound or in the form of individual sheets. Usually each of them has a short title or explanatory text. The atlas may also contain tables or figures.
For the first time this word appeared in Russian almost500 years ago, thanks to the work of the cartographer Kremer, who called his book an atlas. The name comes from the already mentioned name of the ancient Greek god Atlanta, or Atlas. The image of this titanium was on the cover of Kremer's work. 200 years later, in 1734, the first Russian atlas was published. So called a collection of geographical maps of the Russian Empire. This word stuck in Russian without any problems. Although initially the atlas called collections only geographical maps, but over time it began to be used also in relation to the field of anatomy, astronomy, linguistics.
The so-called mountain range in Africa.It is located on the territory of such countries as Algeria, Tunisia, Morocco. The mountain range with a total length of 2000 km consists of the Tell Atlas, High Atlas, Middle Atlas and Sahara Atlas ranges.
This toponym is also associated with the name of titan Atlanta.Here the analogy is simple: they believed that the mountains with their peaks rest against the sky itself. With firm confidence it can be stated that they received their name for a reason. In particular, the High Atlas Ridge is the site of the greatest concentration of the largest peaks of Africa. It stretches from the plains of the Atlantic to Algeria. The average height of the mountains is 3-4 km, and the peak is Jebel-Toubkal (4165 m).
Интересно также то, что Атласскими горы назвали Europeans, and the locals gave quite different names to individual ridges of this tectonic system. And it is not surprising, because the ancient Greek myths and legends in Africa were not common.
Knowing such subtleties, you can enrich the lexical arsenal and be confident in the correct pronunciation of the word.
