Seismography

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. The scientific study of earthquakes and seismic waves ; the recording of ground movements made with a seismograph instrument
2. Earth science dealing with quakes and vibrations travelling through the ground ; the practice of capturing ground motion on a seismograph
3. The branch of geology concerned with earthquakes and their waves ; the making of records of ground tremors using a seismograph

Etymology: Seismography is built from two Greek-derived parts. The first, "seismo-", comes from Greek "seismos", meaning "earthquake" or "shaking", which itself derives from "seiein", "to shake". The second, "-graphy", comes from Greek "graphia", "writing" or "recording", the same root that gives English words such as "geography" (earth-writing) and "photography" (light-writing). Put together, the word literally means "earthquake-recording." That combination makes sense once you know what the field actually does. Early instruments were designed to capture ground motion on paper or on a rotating drum, so the study of earthquakes came to be named after the act of recording their tremors. The word is a modern formation from classical building blocks rather than an ancient term, since the Greeks had no concept of a seismograph.