Aeronautism

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. The discipline concerned with air navigation encompasses both the theoretical underpinnings of flight and the practical operation of airborne vehicles
2. This term pertains to the art and science of flying, integrating the principles of flight dynamics with the maneuvering of aerial craft
3. The field that deals with navigating through the atmosphere involves the study of flight mechanics and the skills required to operate flying machines

Etymology: "Aeronautism" is formed from "aeronaut" plus the suffix "-ism". An aeronaut is a person who travels or flies in a balloon or airship, and the word itself is built from Greek elements: "aer" meaning air, and "nautes" meaning sailor. So an aeronaut is, literally, an air-sailor, a name that matches the way early flyers navigated the sky much as sailors navigated the sea. The suffix "-ism" carries the sense of a practice, doctrine or field of study, so "aeronautism" names the study of flight as a subject in its own right. It is a deliberately constructed term, following the pattern of older words such as "astronautism"-style coinages that turn a practitioner's title into the name of a discipline.