1540s, "of or pertaining to the eye socket;" 1839 with reference to heavenly bodies; from orbit (n.) + -al (1).
Entries linking to orbital
orbit n.
late 14c., "the eye-socket, the bony cavity of the skull which contains the eye," from Old French orbite or directly from Medieval Latin orbita, a transferred use of Latin orbita "wheel track, beaten path, rut, course" (see orb). The astronomical sense of "circular or elliptical path of a planet or comet" (recorded in English from 1690s; later also of artificial satellites) was in classical Latin and was revived in Gerard of Cremona's translation of Avicenna. The Old English word for "eye socket" was eaghring.
-al 1
suffix forming adjectives from nouns or other adjectives, "of, like, related to, pertaining to," Middle English -al, -el, from French or directly from Latin -alis (see -al (2)).
suborbital adj.
also sub-orbital, 1803 of the eye; 1959 of a planet, from sub- + orbital (adj.). Related: Suborbitally.