Appendix 4:
Planetary Linguistics
Names of the Planets
English is generally recoginzed as the international
language for professional astronomy. However, the various languages often
also have their own words which are used in everyday speach. This table
gives the names of the major solar system bodies where they differ (in
spelling) from the English ones:
English Sun Mercury Venus Earth Moon Mars Jupiter Saturn Uranus Neptune Pluto
Latin Sol Mercurius Terra Luna Saturnus Neptunus
French Soleil Mercure Vénus Terre Lune Saturne Pluton
Italian Sole Mercurio Venere Terra Luna Marte Giove Saturno Urano Nettuno Plutone
Spanish Sol Mercurio Tierra Luna Marte Júpiter Saturno Urano Neptuno Plutón
Catalan Sol Mercuri Terra Lluna Mart Júpiter Ura Neptú Plutó
Portuguese Sol Mercúrio Vénus Terra Lua Marte Júpiter Saturno Urano Neptuno Plutão
Esperanto Suno Merkuro Venuso Tero Luno Marso Jupitero Saturno Urano Neptuno Plutono
German Sonne Merkur Erde Mond Neptun
Dutch Zon Mercurius Aarde Maan Saturnus Neptunus
Swedish Solen Merkurius Jorden Månen Saturnus Neptunus
Norwegian Sola Merkur Jorda Månen Neptun
Danish Solen Merkur Jorden Månen Neptun
Finnish Aurinko Merkurius Maa Kuu Saturnus Neptunus
Estonian Päike Merkuur Veenus Maa Kuu Marss Uraan Neptuun ?
Hungarian Nap Merkùr Vénusz Föld Hold Szaturnusz Uránusz Neptunusz Plútó
Czech Slunce Merkur Venuse Zeme Mesíc Uran Neptun
old Czech Slunce Dobropan Krasopani Zeme Mesic Smrtonos Kralomoc Hladolet Nebestanka Vodopan
Slovenian Sonce Merkur Venera Zemlja Mesec Uran Neptun Pluton
Polish Slonce Merkury Wenus Ziemia Ksiezyc Mars Jowisz Saturn Uran Neptun Pluton
Russian Solnce Merkurij Venera Zemlja Luna Yupiter Uran Neptun Pluton
Turkish Günes Merkür C,ulpan Yer Ay Merih Erendiz Sekendiz Uranus Neptün Plüton
Uzbek Quyosh Utorid Zuhra Yer Oy Mirrikh Mushtarij Zuhal ? ? ?
Hebrew Shemesh Kokhav Khama Nogah Kadur Ha'Aretz Yareakh Ma'adim Tzedek Shabtay
Chinese Brightest Water Metal Ground "moon" Fire Wood Soil Heaven Ocean Hell
Cantonese Taiyeung Suising Gumsing Deiqao Yueqao Fuosing Moqsing Tousing Tinwongsing Huoiwongsing Mengwongsing
Mandarin Taiyang Shuixing Jinxing Diqiou Yueliang Huoxing Muxing Tuxing Tianwangxing Haiwangxing Mingwangxing
Korean Taeyang Soosung Kumsung Jeegoo Dahl Hwasung Moksung Tosung Chunwangsung Haewangsung Myungwangsung
Japanese Taiyou Suisei Kinsei Chikyu Tsuki Kasei Mokusei Dosei Tennousei Kaiousei Meiousei
Notes:
-
For brevity's sake I've omitted the articles commonly used in some languages.
-
The Chinese line gives the meanings of the Chinese words; abbreviated from
"The Brightest; Star of Water; Star of Metal; Sphere of Ground (Earth);
Star of Fire; Star of Wood; Star of Soil (Dirt); Star of the King of Heaven;
Star of the King of the Ocean; Star of the King of Hell". The Korean, Japanese,
Mandarin and Cantonese lines are pronounications.
-
When they are written in Chinese characters the Korean words have almost
the same meanings as those listed in the row for Chinese.
-
Much of this was taken from the ASTROLANGUAGE
mini dictionary of 300 astronomical terms compiled by Veikko Makela.
The remainder was compiled from responses to a query on the Net. Thanks
to those who replied.
-
Blank entries mean that the English spelling is used.
-
I would appreciate any additions or corrections to this table.
Adjectives
The English adjectives relating to the planets do not always derive simply
from the noun forms:
Noun Adjectival form
------ ---------------
Sun Solar
Mercury Mercurial
Venus Cytherean or Venusian
Earth Terrestrial
Moon Lunar
Mars Martian
Jupiter Jovian
Saturn Saturnian
Uranus Uranian
Neptune Neptunian
Pluto Plutonian or Hadean
Days of the Week
The seven-day system we use is based on the ancient astrological notion
that the seven known celestial bodies influence what happens on Earth and
that each of these celestial bodies controls the first hour of the day
named after it. This system was brought into Hellenistic Egypt from Mesopotamia,
where astrology had been practiced for millenniums and where seven had
always been a propitious number. In A.D. 321 the Emperor Constantine the
Great grafted this astrological system onto the Roman calendar, made the
first day of this new week a day of rest and worship for all, and imposed
the following sequence and names to the days of the week. This new Roman
system was adopted with modifications throughout most of western Europe:
in the Germanic languages, such as Old English, the names of four of the
Roman gods were converted into those of the corresponding Germanic gods:
Celestial Germanic modern
Body Latin god English Italian
------- -------- -------- --------- ----------
Sun Solis Sunday domenica
Moon Lunae Monday lunedi
Mars Martis Tiu Tuesday martedi
Mercury Mercurii Woden Wednesday mercoledi
Jupiter Jovis Thor Thursday giovedi
Venus Veneris Frigg Friday venerdi
Saturn Saturni Saturday sabato
The Latin names for the weekdays survive in the modern Romance languages
(though the weekend day names have been altered).
Months
Two of the English month names are also have planetary connections: January
is named for Janus
and March is named for Mars.
... Appendices
... Chronology
... Linguistics ... Names
... 
Bill
Arnett; last updated: 1995 July 12