cross-section

The word 'cross-section' is a modern English compound, formed by combining two nouns of Latin origin to create a new, specific technical term. The first element, 'cross', evolved from the Latin 'crux', which originally meant a stake or a torture instrument, but in English came to signify the shape of intersecting lines, and by extension, the concept of going 'across'. The second element, 'section', comes directly from the Latin 'sectio', meaning the act or result of cutting. The compound's literal logic is perfectly transparent: a "cross-wise cutting". This meaning was first applied in the 18th century in geometry and technical drawing to describe the shape exposed by cutting an object transversely. By the early 20th century, this concrete geometrical sense was metaphorically extended to sociology and statistics to mean a representative sample "cut across" a population at a specific point in time.

Structure: cross (across) + section (cutting) - cross: From Old English 'cros', via Old Norse 'kross', from Latin 'crux, crucis' (stake, cross). In this compound, it functions as an adjective/adverb meaning "across" or "transversely". - section: From Latin 'sectio, sectionis' (a cutting), from the verb 'secare' (to cut). In this compound, it functions as a noun meaning "a cutting" or "a slice".