Changes

==Etymology==

==Etymology==

[http://nordan.daynal.org/wiki/index.php?title=English#ca._1100-1500_.09THE_MIDDLE_ENGLISH_PERIOD Middle English], from Anglo-French, from Late Latin desertum, from [[Latin]], neuter of desertus, past participle of deserere to desert, from de- + serere to join together

[https://nordan.daynal.org/wiki/index.php?title=English#ca._1100-1500_.09THE_MIDDLE_ENGLISH_PERIOD Middle English], from Anglo-French, from Late Latin desertum, from [[Latin]], neuter of desertus, past participle of deserere to desert, from de- + serere to join together

   

   

[[English]] '''desert''' and its Romance cognates (including Italian and Portuguese deserto, French désert and Spanish desierto) all come from the ecclesiastical [[Latin]] dēsertum (originally "an abandoned place"), a participle of dēserere, "to abandon."  The correlation between [[aridity]] and sparse [[population]] is [[complex]] and [[dynamic]], varying by [[culture]], era, and [[technologies]]; thus the use of the [[word]] desert can cause [[confusion]]. In English prior to the 20th century, desert  was often used in the sense of "unpopulated area", without specific reference to [[aridity]]; but today the word is most often used in its [[climate]]-[[science]] sense (an area of low [[precipitation]])—and a desert may be quite heavily populated, with millions of [[inhabitants]]. Phrases such as "desert island" and "Great American Desert" in previous centuries did not necessarily imply sand or aridity; their [[focus]] was the sparse [[population]]. However, the connotation of a hot, parched, and sandy place often [[influences]] today's popular [[interpretation]] of those phrases.

[[English]] '''desert''' and its Romance cognates (including Italian and Portuguese deserto, French désert and Spanish desierto) all come from the ecclesiastical [[Latin]] dēsertum (originally "an abandoned place"), a participle of dēserere, "to abandon."  The correlation between [[aridity]] and sparse [[population]] is [[complex]] and [[dynamic]], varying by [[culture]], era, and [[technologies]]; thus the use of the [[word]] desert can cause [[confusion]]. In English prior to the 20th century, desert  was often used in the sense of "unpopulated area", without specific reference to [[aridity]]; but today the word is most often used in its [[climate]]-[[science]] sense (an area of low [[precipitation]])—and a desert may be quite heavily populated, with millions of [[inhabitants]]. Phrases such as "desert island" and "Great American Desert" in previous centuries did not necessarily imply sand or aridity; their [[focus]] was the sparse [[population]]. However, the connotation of a hot, parched, and sandy place often [[influences]] today's popular [[interpretation]] of those phrases.