The clear upper air breathed by the gods; the quintessential element that filled the heavens beyond earthly atmosphere. A substance both mystical and scientific, representing pure, rarified space.
From Greek aither, meaning 'upper air' or 'bright sky.' Greeks believed this divine substance filled the realm above clouds where gods dwelled. The word traveled through Latin to medieval alchemy, then to 19th-century physics as scientists sought to explain how light traveled through space — the luminiferous aether.
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