Editing Algae (section)

==Etymology and study==
The singular {{lang|la|alga}} is the Latin word for 'seaweed' and retains that meaning in English.<ref>{{cite book |chapter=alga, algae |title=Webster's Third New International Dictionary of the English Language Unabridged with Seven Language Dictionary |volume=1 |date=1986 |publisher=Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc}}</ref> The [[etymology]] is obscure. Although some speculate that it is related to Latin {{lang|la|algēre}}, 'be cold',<ref>{{cite book |first=Eric |last=Partridge |chapter=algae |title=Origins |url=https://archive.org/details/originsshortetym0000part |url-access=registration |date=1983|publisher=Greenwich House |isbn=9780517414255 }}</ref> no reason is known to associate seaweed with temperature. A more likely source is {{lang|la|alliga}}, 'binding, entwining'.<ref>{{cite book |title=A Latin Dictionary |chapter=Alga |first1=Charlton T. |last1=Lewis |first2=Charles |last2=Short |location=Oxford |publisher=Clarendon Press |date=1879 |chapter-url= https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0059%3Aalphabetic+letter%3DA%3Aentry+group%3D37%3Aentry%3Dalga |access-date=31 December 2017}}</ref>

The [[Ancient Greek]] word for 'seaweed' was {{lang|el|φῦκος}} ({{lang|el-Latn|phŷkos}}), which could mean either the seaweed (probably red algae) or a red dye derived from it. The Latinization, {{lang|la|fūcus}}, meant primarily the cosmetic rouge. The etymology is uncertain, but a strong candidate has long been some word related to the [[Biblical Hebrew|Biblical]] {{lang|he|פוך}} ({{lang|he-Latn|pūk}}), 'paint' (if not that word itself), a [[Kohl (cosmetics)|cosmetic eye-shadow]] used by the [[ancient Egypt]]ians and other inhabitants of the eastern Mediterranean. It could be any color: black, red, green, or blue.<ref>{{cite book |first1=Thomas Kelly |last1=Cheyne |first2=John Sutherland |last2=Black |title=Encyclopædia biblica: A critical dictionary of the literary, political and religious history, the archæology, geography, and natural history of the Bible |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=GccVAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA3525 |date=1902 |publisher=Macmillan Company |page=3525}}</ref>

The study of algae is most commonly called [[phycology]] ({{Etymology|gre|phykos|seaweed}}); the term [[wikt:algology|algology]] is falling out of use.<ref>{{Citation |title=Basic characteristics of the algae |date=2008 |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/phycology/basic-characteristics-of-the-algae/64674E3DEFD655BDAB55324B95265EEC |work=Phycology |pages=3–30 |editor-last=Lee |editor-first=Robert Edward |access-date=2023-09-13 |edition=4 |place=Cambridge |publisher=Cambridge University Press |doi=10.1017/CBO9780511812897.002 |isbn=978-1-107-79688-1}}</ref>