Etymology
A word predating aviation potentially by thousands of years, "pilot"currently connotes the operator of an aircraft. For example, the AmericanHeritage Dictionary defines pilot as "one who operates or is licensed tooperate an aircraft in flight." All modern English dictionaries, from theOxford English to the Merriam-Webster to the Gage Canadian, cite aircraftin the first and primary definition of the word pilot, at least in its formas a noun. Pilot is most commonly used as a noun, to denote a person whooperates a craft; when the word is used as a transitive verb its meaningtends to be more general. Like many words in the English language, pilotcan be traced to more than one linguistic origin: its closest relativeseems to be the French word "pilote," which itself derives from the Italianword "pilota." Therefore, pilot directly comes from the Romance languages.However, the roots of the word can be traced farther, to Greek origins.Most dictionaries concur that the English word pilot evolved from the Indo-European and later Greek root words "ped," or "pod," meaning "foot." Thecurrent usage of pilot has little to do with feet other than their sharedcorrespondence to transportation. Rather, the word evolved
Derived from the Greek word for "oar," pilotreferred to a ship's helmsman until the mid-nineteenth century, when thefirst balloonists ventured into the sky. Mostmodern dictionaries refer to aviation as the first definition of the word. Instead, a pilot can be one who island bound but who is intimately familiar with a particular harbor. Thus,they share a similar hierarchical and organizational structure, and therole of the pilot remains similar. " Therefore, a pilot is one who leads, whether theword derived from the Dutch "peillood," or from the Italian "pilota. For instance, on the television series Star Trek, the captainof the ship is separate from the helmsman. " As ballooning began the aviation revolution, it is no wonder that a"pilot balloon" came to mean a balloon that went up in advance of anotherto determine wind speed and other weather conditions. " The word pilot was not used in connection with aviation until about1848, according to the Bartleby. The captain is a moregeneral leader of a group of people, whereas the pilot commands the vessel. Although theroot word for pilot is "ped," for foot, neither a sea pilot nor an airpilot has their feet on the ground, but they must put their best footforward. As an adjective, the word pilot isused in a variety of industries and settings, from mechanics topharmaceuticals. One of the more common uses for pilot as an adjective isin the television industry: a "pilot episode" is "prototype of a seriesbeing considered for adoption by a network," (American Heritage). Regardless, both wordsare often used as synonyms for "lead" or "guide. From the Greek word "pedotes," this meaning of the word specificallyconnotes a steersman or helmsman. A captain and a pilot can word side by side: even if the captain is skilledas a pilot, he or she takes on responsibilities that have more to do withpublic relations and strategic decisions than with mechanics andnavigation.
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