Full record for Solarian n.
| Definition | an inhabitant of Sol |
| OED requirements | antedating 1851 |
| Earliest cite | Charles Fourier, The Passions of the Human Soul |
| Comment | Fred Galvin submitted a cite from a 1951 reprint of Hal Clement's 1942 "Proof"; Mike Christie verified it in the original publication. Fred Galvin submitted a 1951 cite from Kenneth Heuer's "Men of Other Planets". Fred Galvin submitted a 1980 cite from David Brin's "Sundiver". Malcolm Farmer submitted an 1851 cite from a translation from the French of Charles Fourier's "The Passions of the Human Soul": we would be interested in seeing, besides antedatings, citations between 1851 and 1942. No entry in the OED William Herschel speculated, at the end of the 18th century, that the Sun was an earthlike planet surrounded by luminous clouds, sunspots being glimpses through the clouds of the darker, cool surface. This naturally led to speculation that the surface could be populated, probably by humanoids. As astronomical knowledge progressed in the 19th century, the notion of solar inhabitants fell out of favour, until its revival by SF in the 20th century, this time with beings of plasma, energy, or collapsed matter. |
| Last modified | 1 September, 2009 |
Citations for Solarian n.
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| 1942 ‘H. Clement’ Proof in Astounding Stories June 103/1 | ‘The trips are dangerous&em.you should have been told that. We carry a crew of thirty, when two would be enough to man this ship, for we must fight, as well as fly. You spoke truly when you said that the lower regions of Sol are our natural home; but for aeons we have not dared to make more than fleeting visits, to steal the power which is life to us. Your little worlds have been almost completely subjugated by your people, Sirian; they never had life forms sufficiently powerful to threaten seriously your domination. But Sol, whose core alone is far larger than the Sirius B pair, did develop such creatures. Some are vast, stupid, slow-moving, or immobile; others are semi-intelligent, and rapid movers; all are more than willing to ingest the ready-compacted neutronium of another living being.’ Kron's tale was interrupted for a moment, as the Sirian sent a ray probing out through the ship's wall, testing the physical state of the inferno beyond. A record was made, and the Solarian resumed. |
| 1952 P. Anderson Captive of Centaurianess in Planet Stories Mar. 23/1 | I thought you vere too, but it seems like you Solarians are more backvard than I supposed. |
| 1980 D. Brin Sundiver 49 | ‘There has been another dive since our meeting, Jacob, and on that dive, we are told, only the first and more prosaic species of Solarian was observed. Not the second variety which has caused Dr. Kepler so much concern.’ Jacob was still confused by the hurried explanations Kepler had given of the two types of Sun-creatures so far observed. |