What came first, the word Titanic or the ship Titanic?
The word “titanic” derives from the Greek Titans, which were the ancestors of the gods, and ruled the world until Zeus and his posse overthrew them and locked them away until Armageddon. From Etymonline: 1412, from L. Titan, from Gk. Titan, member of a mythological race of giants who attempted to scale heaven by piling Mount Pelion on Mount Ossa but were overthrown by Zeus and the gods. They descended from Titan, elder brother of Kronos. Perhaps from tito “sun, day,” which is probably a loan-word from a language of Asia Minor. Sense of “person or thing of enormous size” first recorded 1828. Applied to planet Saturn’s largest satellite in 1868; it was discovered 1655 by Du. astronomer Christiaan Huygens, who named it Saturni Luna “moon of Saturn.”. Titanic “gigantic, colossal” is first recorded 1709.
