atlas

Etymology 1

Borrowed from Latin Atlas, from the name of the Ancient Greek mythological figure Ἄτλας (Átlas, “Bearer (of the Heavens)”), from τλῆναι (tlênai, “to suffer”, “to endure”, “to bear”). The sense referring to books of maps reflects that Atlas bore the world on his shoulders. The sense referring to the vertebra reflects that the spine carries the globe of the cranium (the neck carries the head).

noun

1. A bound collection of maps often including tables, illustrations or other text.
2. A bound collection of tables, illustrations etc. on any given subject.
3. (chiefly in anatomy, especially of the human body) A detailed visual conspectus of something of great and multi-faceted complexity, with its elements splayed so as to be presented in as discrete a manner as possible whilst retaining a realistic view of the whole.
   An Anatomical Atlas of Vegetable Powders Designed as an Aid to the Microscopic Analysis of Powdered Foods and Drugs 1904: Eugène Collin, An Anatomical Atlas of Vegetable Powders Designed as an Aid to the Microscopic Analysis of Powdered Foods and Drugs, main title (J. & A. Churchill)
   In addition to classical radiology systems like angiography, CT scanner or MRI have greatly contributed to the improvement of the patient anatomy investigation. Each examination modality still carries its own information and the need to make a synthesis between them is obvious but still makes different problems hard to solve. There is no unique imaging facility which can bring out the whole set of known anatomical structures, brought together in a neuro-anatomical atlas. 1991, Alan C. F. Colchester, David J. Hawkes, editors, Information Processing in Medical Imaging, Springer, page 154
   1997: Chris Horrocks, Introducing Foucault, page 55 (Totem Books, Icon Books; →ISBN Our perception of the body as the natural “space of the origin and distribution of disease”, a space determined by the anatomical atlas', is merely one of the various ways in which medicine has formed its “knowledge”.
   Finally, Subsol et al. [6] reported on a method for automatically constructing 3D morphometric anatomical atlantes which is based on the extraction of line and point features and their subsequent non-rigid registration. 2003, Isabelle E. Magnin, Functional Imaging and Modeling of the Heart, Springer, page 19
4. (differential geometry, topology) A family of coordinate charts that cover a manifold.
5. (anatomy) The uppermost vertebra of the cervical spine in the neck in humans and some other animals.
   There are of these glands upon the first vertebra of the neck of the atlas; on which the head turns[…] 1734, William Stukeley, Of the Gout, part II, page 58
   Ribs and spines show through the thin layer of meat left on the carcase, and, where the head meets the body, the crucial first vertebra – the atlas – is exposed. 2020, Tim Ecott, The Land of Maybe, Short Books, published 2021, page 174
6. One who supports a heavy burden; mainstay.
7. (architecture) A figure of a man used as a column.
8. (paper) A sheet of paper measuring 26 inches by 34 inches.

Etymology 2

Arabic أَطْلَس (ʔaṭlas)

noun

1. (historical) A rich satin fabric.
   I saw ye Taffaties and Atlasses in ye warehouse, and gave directions concerning their severall colours and stripes, ordering Mr. Charnock to use his best endeavours to encrease their quantity; […] 1887, Sir William Hedges, Sir Henry Yule, The Diary of William Hedges, Esq.
   Surat was an important port on the west coast of India from where atlases were exported on a large scale […] 2016, Pius Malekandathil, The Indian Ocean in the Making of Early Modern India, page 53