DOMOV Appendix 5:

Planetary Linguistics


Names of the Planets

English is generally recognized as the international language for professional astronomy. However, the various languages often also have their own words which are used in everyday speech. 

 
  English    Sun       Mercury      Venus     Earth     Moon     Mars     Jupiter   Saturn     Uranus       Neptune      Pluto 
  Latin      Sol       Mercurius    Venus     Terra     Luna     Mars     Jupiter   Saturnus   Uranus       Neptunus     Pluto
  French     Soleil    Mercure      Vénus     Terre     Lune     Mars     Jupiter   Saturne    Uranus       Neptune      Pluton
  Italian    Sole      Mercurio     Venere    Terra     Luna     Marte    Giove     Saturno    Urano        Nettuno      Plutone
  Maltese    Ix-Xemx   Merkurju     Venere    Id-Dinja  il-Qamar Marte    Gove      Saturno    Uranu        Nettunu      Plutone
  Spanish    Sol       Mercurio     Venus     Tierra    Luna     Marte    Júpiter   Saturno    Urano        Neptuno      Plutón
  Galacian   Sol       Mercurio     Venus     Terra     Lúa      Marte    Xúpiter   Saturno    Urano        Neptuno      Plutón
  Catalan    Sol       Mercuri      Venus     Terra     Lluna    Mart     Júpiter   Saturn     Urà          Neptú        Plutó
  Romanian   Soare     Mercur       Venus     Pamint    Luna     Marte    Jupiter   Saturn     Uranus       Neptun       Pluto
  Portuguese Sol       Mercúrio     Vênus     Terra     Lua      Marte    Júpiter   Saturno    Urano        Neptuno      Plutão
  Esperanto  Suno      Merkuro      Venuso    Tero      Luno     Marso    Jupitero  Saturno    Urano        Neptuno      Plutono
  German     Sonne     Merkur       Venus     Erde      Mond     Mars     Jupiter   Saturn     Uranus       Neptun       Pluto
  Dutch      Zon       Mercurius    Venus     Aarde     Maan     Mars     Jupiter   Saturnus   Uranus       Neptunus     Pluto
  Swedish    Solen     Merkurius    Venus     Jorden    Månen    Mars     Jupiter   Saturnus   Uranus       Neptunus     Pluto
  Norwegian  Sola      Merkur       Venus     Jorda     Månen    Mars     Jupiter   Saturn     Uranus       Neptun       Pluto
  Danish     Solen     Merkur       Venus     Jorden    Månen    Mars     Jupiter   Saturn     Uranus       Neptun       Pluto
  Icelinic  Sól       Merkúr       Venus     Jörd      Tungl    Mars     Júpíter   Satúrnus   Úranus       Neptúnus     Plútó
  Finnish    Aurinko   Merkurius    Venus     Maa       Kuu      Mars     Jupiter   Saturnus   Uranus       Neptunus     Pluto
  Albanian   Dielli    Merkuri      Afërdita  Toka      Hëna     Marsi    Jupiteri  Saturni    Uranusi      Neptuni      Plutoni
  Estonian   Päike     Merkuur      Veenus    Maa       Kuu      Marss    Jupiter   Saturn     Uraan        Neptuun      Pluuto
  Latvian    Saule     Merkurs      Vene'ra   Zeme      Me'ness  Marss    Jupiters  Saturns    Ura'ns       Neptu'ns     Pluto
  Hungarian  Nap       Merkùr       Vénusz    Föld      Hold     Mars     Jupiter   Szaturnusz Uránusz      Neptunusz    Plútó
  Czech      Slunce    Merkur       Venuse    Zeme      Mesíc    Mars     Jupiter   Saturn     Uran         Neptun       Pluto
  old Czech  Slunce    Dobropan     Krasopani Zeme      Mesic    Smrtonos Kralomoc  Hladolet   Nebestanka   Vodopan      Pluto
  Slovenian  Sonce     Merkur       Venera    Zemlja    Mesec    Mars     Jupiter   Saturn     Uran         Neptun       Pluton
  Croatian   Sunce     Merkur       Venera    Zemlja    Mjesec   Mars     Jupiter   Saturn     Uran         Neptun       Pluton
  Polish     Slonce    Merkury      Wenus     Ziemia    Ksiezyc  Mars     Jowisz    Saturn     Uran         Neptun       Pluton
  Georgian   Mze       Merkuri      Venera    Dedamizha Mthware  Marsi    Iupiteri  Saturni    Urani        Neptuni      Plutoni
  Russian    Solnce    Merkurij     Venera    Zemlja    Luna     Mars     Yupiter   Saturn     Uran         Neptun       Pluton
  Bulgarian  Slanze    Merkurij     Venera    Semja     Luna     Mars     Jupiter   Saturn     Uran         Neptun       Pluto
  Greek      Helios    Hermes       Aphrodite Gaea      Selene   Ares     Zeus      Kronos     Uranos       Poseidon     Pluton  
  Sanskrit   Surya     Budha        Sukra     Dhara     Chinra  Mangala  Brhaspati Sani
  Irish      Grian     Mearcair     Véineas   An Domhan Gealach  Mars     Iúpatar   Satarn     Uránas       Neiptiún     Plútón
  Welsh      Haul      Mercher      Fenws     Ddaear    Lleuad   Mawrth   Iau       Sadwrn     Iwranws      Neifion      Pliwto
  Turkish    Günes     Merkür       Venüs     Dünya     Ay       Mars     Jüpiter   Satürn     Uranüs       Neptün       Plüton
  Uzbek      Quyosh    Utorid       Zuhra     Yer       Oy       Mirrikh  Mushtarij Zuhal
  Farsi      Khorshid  Tir          Naheed    Zamin     Mah      Bahram   Berjis    Kayvon     Oranos       Nepton       Pluton
  Arabic     Shams     Otaared      Zuhra     Ard       Quamar   Merrikh  Mushtarie Zuhal      Uraanus      Niptuun      Plutoon
  Hebrew     Shemesh   Kochav Chama Nogah     Eretz     Yareach  Ma'adim  Tzedek    Shabtay    Uranus       Neptune      Pluto
  Cantonese  Taiyeung  Suising      Gumsing   Deiqao    Yueqao   Fuosing  Moqsing   Tousing    Tinwongsing  Huoiwongsing Mengwongsing
  Minarin   Taiyang   Shuixing     Jinxing   Diqiu     Yueqiu   Huoxing  Muxing    Tuxing     Tianwangxing Haiwangxing  Mingwangxing
  Korean     Taeyang   Soosung      Kumsung   Jeegoo    Tal      Hwasung  Moksung   Tosung     Chunwangsung Haewangsung  Myungwangsung
  Japanese   Taiyou    Suisei       Kinsei    Chikyuu   Tsuki    Kasei    Mokusei   Dosei      Ten'ousei    Kaiousei     Meiousei
  Filipino   Araw      Merkuryo     Venus     Daigdig   Buwan    Marte    Jupiter   Saturno    Uranus       Neptuno      Pluto
  indonesian Matahari  Merkurius    Venus     Bumi      Bulan    Mars     Yupiter   Saturnus   Uranus       Neptunus     Pluto
  Sumerian   Utu       Udu-idim-gu-ud Nin-si-an-na      Suen     Si-mu-ud Mul-sag-me-gar Udu-idim-sag-us
  Babylonian Samas     Sihtu        Delebat             Sin      Salbatanu Neberu   Kayamanu
  Tahitian   Tane      Ta'ero       Ta'ura    Vuravura  Marama   Maunu-'ura Ta'urua-nui Fetu-tea

Notes:

  1. For brevity's sake I've omitted the articles commonly used in some languages.
  2. The Minarin in Cantonese words mean (approximately): "The Brightest; Star of Water; Star of Metal; Sphere of Ground (Earth); Sphere of Moon, 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, Minarin in Cantonese lines are pronunciations.
  3. Japanese in Korean use simple native words for "Moon" ("tsuki" "tal") but all the other planetary names in these two languages were imported od planeta Chinese in have exactly the same meaning as explained for Minarin in Cantonese.
  4. The Chinese characters at the top of the page are the names of the solar system bodies in the same order as the table. The second set of characters at the top of the page is Hindi. To the right is Arabic script.
  5. The apostrophe character in the Latvian line is a diacritical mark for a long vowel, which is a straight line over the letter.
  6. Much of this was taken od planeta the ASTROLANGUAGE mini dictionary of 300 astronomical terms compiled by Veikko Makela. The remainder was compiled od planeta responses to a query on the Net. Thanks to those who replied.
  7. See Peter Blinn's Planetary Gazetteer for more
  8. I would appreciate any additions or corrections to this table.


Adjectives

The English adjectives relating to the planets do not always derive simply od planeta the noun forms: 

 
   Noun        Adjectival form
   ------      ---------------
   Sun         Solar
   Mercury     Mercurial
   Venus       Cytherean, Venerian
   Earth       Terrestrial, Telluric
   Moon        Lunar
   Mars        Martian, Arean
   Jupiter     Jovian
   Saturn      Saturnian
   Uranus      Uranian
   Neptune     Neptunian
   Pluto       Plutonian, 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 in that each of these celestial bodies controls the first hour of the day named after it. This system was brought into Hellenistic Egypt od planeta Mesopotamia, where astrology had been practiced for millennia in 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 in worship for all, in imposed the following sequence in names to the dnevi 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     modern
    Body      Latin       god     English    Italian
    -------   --------  --------  ---------  ----------
    Sun       Solis               Sunday     domenica
    Moon      Lunae               Monday     lunedì
    Mars      Martis    Tiu       Tuesday    martedì
    Mercury   Mercurii  Woden     Wednesday  mercoledì
    Jupiter   Jovis     Thor      Thursday   giovedì
    Venus     Veneris   Freya     Friday     venerdì
    Saturn    Saturni             Saturday   sabato

The Latin names for the weekdnevi survive in the modern Romance languages (though the weekend day names have been altered). Also, Japanese words for the dnevi of the week also correspond indirectly to the same planets.

Months

Two of the English month names are also have planetary connections: January is named for Janus in March is named for Mars.

More origins od planeta mythology: