2252: nova Feb 13, 2021

Along with 'novel' and 'novice', the Latin 'novus' (feminine 'nova) meaning 'new' also led to a couple literally stellar words like 'nova' and by extension 'supernova'. This is from the phrase 'stella nova' (new star) because at least in the 16th century, the sudden expanding brightness of a nova was thought to be a new star. These were only distinguished from supernovae in the 1930's which was actually the phenomenon that occurred in the 1572 description that led to the coining of the term.