Editing Comet (section)

== Etymology ==
[[File:Anglo-Saxon Chronicle - cometa (British Library Cotton MS Tiberius A VI, folio 10v).jpg|thumb|A comet was mentioned in the ''[[Anglo-Saxon Chronicle]]'' that allegedly made an appearance in 729 AD.]]
The word ''comet'' derives from the [[Old English]] {{lang|ang|cometa}} from the [[Latin]] {{lang|la|comēta}} or {{lang|la|comētēs}}. That, in turn, is a [[Romanization of Greek|romanization]] of the [[Ancient Greek|Greek]] {{lang|grc|κομήτης}} 'wearing long hair', and the ''[[Oxford English Dictionary]]'' notes that the term ({{lang|grc|ἀστὴρ}}) {{lang|grc|κομήτης}} already meant 'long-haired star, comet' in Greek. {{lang|grc|Κομήτης}} was derived from {{lang|grc|κομᾶν}} ({{transliteration|grc|koman}}) 'to wear the hair long', which was itself derived from {{lang|grc|κόμη}} ({{transliteration|grc|komē}}) 'the hair of the head' and was used to mean 'the tail of a comet'.<ref>{{OED|comet}}</ref><ref>{{cite dictionary |url=http://etymonline.com/?term=comet |title=Comet (n.) |dictionary=Online Etymology Dictionary |last=Harper |first=Douglas |access-date=30 July 2013}}</ref>

The [[astronomical symbol]] for comets (represented in [[Unicode]]) is {{Unichar|2604|Comet}}, consisting of a small disc with three hairlike extensions.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://archive.org/stream/encyclopediaame01unkngoog#page/n202/mode/2up |title=The Encyclopedia Americana: A Library of Universal Knowledge |volume=26 |publisher=The Encyclopedia Americana Corp. |pages=162–163 |date=1920}}</ref>