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prettygoodwordzenith (ZEE-nith, (Brit.) ZEN-ith) - n., the point in the sky or celestial sphere directly above a given position or observer; the highest point in the sky reached by a celestial body; the highest point or state, peak, culmination.
Where "above" is defined by local gravity. Follow gravity, and you go toward the nadir. In use since the later 1300s in the spellings cenyth/senyth, but the etymology is a dozy of a ride, so hang on. Adopted from Medieval Latin cenith, from Old Spanish zenit or senit, scribal error for zemt or semt (misreading m as ni), transliterating Arabic سَمْت (samt), direction/path/road, an abbreviation of سَمْت الرَأْس (samt ar-rās), direction of the head, where the first part is from Latin sēmita, path in the sense of side-path/sidetrack, root sense of "thing going off to the side", ultimately from the PIE roots *sē‑, apart + *mei-, go/move -- which lies under many words including migration, which describe that pathway quite well.
---L.
Where "above" is defined by local gravity. Follow gravity, and you go toward the nadir. In use since the later 1300s in the spellings cenyth/senyth, but the etymology is a dozy of a ride, so hang on. Adopted from Medieval Latin cenith, from Old Spanish zenit or senit, scribal error for zemt or semt (misreading m as ni), transliterating Arabic سَمْت (samt), direction/path/road, an abbreviation of سَمْت الرَأْس (samt ar-rās), direction of the head, where the first part is from Latin sēmita, path in the sense of side-path/sidetrack, root sense of "thing going off to the side", ultimately from the PIE roots *sē‑, apart + *mei-, go/move -- which lies under many words including migration, which describe that pathway quite well.
---L.
