from Gr. θάλασσα sea, and θαλάσσι-ος marine, formative elements of learned words. Thalassarctine a. Zool. [Gr. ἄρκτ-ος a bear], of or pertaining to the Polar Bear, Thalassarctos. Thalassicollidan [Gr. κόλλα glue], a. belonging to the Thalassicollidæ, a family of single-celled radiolarians; sb. a radiolarian of this family. Thalassio-, Thalassophyte [-PHYTE], a plant of the Thalassiophyta (see quot.); a seaweed, a marine alga; hence Thalassiophytous a., belonging to the Thalassiophyta. Thalassometer [-METER], a tide-gauge. Thalassometrician nonce-wd., one who measures the sea. Thalassophilous a. [-PHIL], fond of the sea, living in the sea. Thalassophobia, a morbid dread of the sea. Thalassotherapy: see quot. See also THALASSOCRACY, etc.
1842. Penny Cycl., XXIV. 277/1. *Thalassiophytes … is the name given by Lamouroux to designate the vegetable productions of the ocean…. It is equivalent to the term Hydrophytes of Lingbye, and the … Marine Algæ.
1900. B. D. Jackson, Gloss. Bot. Terms, Thalassophyte.
1858. Simmonds, Dict. Trade, *Thalassometer, a tide-gauge.
1652. Needham, trans. Selden’s Mare Cl., 5. I have heard of a Geometrician, or one that could measure Land; but never of a *Thalassometrician, one that could measure or lay out Bounds in the Sea.
1891. Cent. Dict., *Thalassophilous.
1897. trans. Ribot’s Psychol. Emotions, II. ii. 213. Every morbid manifestation of fear is immediately fitted with a Greek designation,… and we have aīcmophobin, belenophobia, *thalassophobia, potamophobia.
1899. Syd. Soc. Lex., *Thalassotherapy, treatment of disease by sea bathing, sea voyages, etc.
