Seismographies

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. Devices that detect and record ground vibrations from earthquakes ; the branch of science that studies earthquakes through measurement and recording of seismic waves
2. Instruments built to register tremors in the earth ; the scientific field devoted to examining earthquakes and the seismic waves they produce
3. Sensitive recording apparatuses for detecting quakes in the ground ; the systematic investigation of earthquakes by means of seismic measurement

Etymology: "Seismographies" is simply the plural of "seismography," the recording of earthquakes and other ground vibrations. The noun is built from two Greek elements: "seismos," meaning "shaking" or "earthquake," which comes from the verb "seiein," to shake, and "-graphia," from "graphein," to write or draw. A seismograph is the instrument, and seismography is the practice of recording those tremors, so the word literally means something like "shake-writing." The plural form simply counts separate bodies of such recording work or distinct records, as when different observatories or survey programmes each produce their own seismography. The word follows the same pattern as "photography" and "cardiography," where "-graphy" names a method of producing a record.