Why is Earth's moon still named just "The Moon" (and our sun still named "The Sun")

Dimitriov

The end is nigh.
May 24, 2010
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Zenn3k said:
Most "suns" don't have names, only very special ones do. I don't see a reason why it needs a proper name.

However, the Moon's name IS in fact, Luna. Its rarely called this, but thats its name. Its often referred to as "The Moon" because its the Moon of Earth, our planet.

You know also that Earth is the only planet in our solar system not named after a god right? Why doesn't THAT bother you?
From Wikipedia said:
The modern English noun earth developed from Middle English erthe (recorded in 1137), itself from Old English eorthe (dating from before 725), deriving from Proto-Germanic *erthō. Earth has cognates in all other Germanic languages, including Dutch aarde, German Erde, and Swedish, Norwegian, and Danish jord.[30] The Earth is personified as a goddess in Germanic paganism (appearing as Jörð in Norse mythology, mother of the god Thor).
Just wanted to point out that that is not exactly true: the earth is usually a mother figure in mythology.
 

Milanezi

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DoPo said:
I believe it is because people used to call the big bright thing in the sky "sun" and the other smaller but still big bright thing "moon". It was after that they found out that they didn't live on the only planet, and other planets also had these two things - some times even in greater quantity. So they went "meh" and called all the sun looking things suns, same for the moon looking ones, so the former name, became the whole class of things.
And you wrote what I was about to write.
 

funkzillabot

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Well...unlike Jupiter and Saturn. The Earth only has ONE moon. And we're the only terrestrial creatures living in this solar system. So when we say, "THE MOON" -- everyone already know what we mean. The moon circling OUR planet.

I'm sure this will be more of an issue for future generations when humanity finally does live on the Moon and Mars. But for right now it's not a problem. Basically because, "we" can't manage to get long with each other right here on this planet. Baby steps.
 

Lunar Templar

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cause?

yeah there boring names compared to other similar body's in space, but not every one gets a cool name.

I'd totally be up for officially renaming the Sol and Luna though, and rename Earth Terra, Earth has always sucked as a name
 

Atmos Duality

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Mar 3, 2010
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"The Sun" is a proper name for one star. Our star.
The romantic mistake is to refer to every star as "a sun", rather than stars.
(usually by people imitating what they hear in fiction. Example: "Twin suns of Tatooine". They might call the stars "suns" in the Star Wars universe, but that isn't the universe we live in.)

One could make a case for "sunrise" and "sunset"; since the sun technically is doing neither relative to us. But these are common, functional terms.

"The Moon" is more ambiguous since it shares its name with the generic term that describes a type of celestial satellite orbiting a planet. Makes sense; it was the first lunar satellite we identified.

Want me to blow your mind entirely?
"Planet" as originally defined, literally means "Wandering star".

(and no, I didn't read the entire topic; I just got out of my geology of astronomy class. Twas in the mood.)
 

Altorin

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May 16, 2008
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i don't know why this is an issue at all to anyone. they're english words, we're speaking english. If we were speaking a different language, we would have different words for them. They don't really have firm unified names. if you're speaking french you might say Terre instead of Earth, or if you're speaking latin you'd say Sol instead of sun, or ancient greek you'd refer to the moon as Luna. As science tends to gravitate towards Latin and Greek in a classical sense, and many of the planets being named by the greeks because they were visible to the naked eye. Other planets were named as they were discovered in a similar way, so you had planets and moons being named after gods (and the word moon took on its current meaning of a small spherical body orbiting a plant which typically orbit around stars).

If science has a word for Sun, it's our star. And if it has a word for Moon, it's satellite.

That's really the end of it. It's just a quirk of language.
 

Terrible Opinions

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Radoh said:
OlasDAlmighty said:
Bhaalspawn said:
OlasDAlmighty said:
Edit: And for the record, no, their names aren't "Sol" and "Luna". That's just in Star Trek and Mass Effect and probably a few other Sci-fi universes, not RL.
They ARE. Those were the original Latin names they were given "Sol" and "Luna" and are currently the most accepted proper names in the world of science and Astronomy.
Look, I'm sorry but are speaking Latin right now? Maybe you think that this is like with species names where the Latin based name is the scientific one. It's not. Sol is no more it's officially recognized name than the words Soleil, Sonne, or Helios.

And when you say Fiance are you speaking French?
What about when you say Spaghetti, are you speaking Italian?
Have you ever used the word Ergo? What about Impromptu? Quid Pro Quo?
How about any of the words from http://wordinfo.info/unit/3277 ?
You act like we need to use only English words when speaking in English, but the Language inherently draws from other places. We're not going to make up our own words for everything, so before you start trying to find an English name for Sol and Luna, you should first start finding names for every single non-English speaking country, since those all come from their own native tongues.
Um. There are English words for "sol" and "luna". Those English words are "sun" and "moon".

What the fuck, man. Is there something about this post I missed?
 

TheRightToArmBears

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Dec 13, 2008
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As far as I'm aware, the Sun and Moon lent their names to the terms we have for all suns and moons. To be honest, I don't see what's wrong with those names. I certainly think that calling them by their Latin names is both completely pointless and also a surefire way to make yourself sound like a pretentious ballbag, especially considering that they are not the 'proper' names, they're just the names in Latin.
 

Radoh

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Jun 10, 2010
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The Crotch said:
Radoh said:
OlasDAlmighty said:
Bhaalspawn said:
OlasDAlmighty said:
Edit: And for the record, no, their names aren't "Sol" and "Luna". That's just in Star Trek and Mass Effect and probably a few other Sci-fi universes, not RL.
They ARE. Those were the original Latin names they were given "Sol" and "Luna" and are currently the most accepted proper names in the world of science and Astronomy.
Look, I'm sorry but are speaking Latin right now? Maybe you think that this is like with species names where the Latin based name is the scientific one. It's not. Sol is no more it's officially recognized name than the words Soleil, Sonne, or Helios.

And when you say Fiance are you speaking French?
What about when you say Spaghetti, are you speaking Italian?
Have you ever used the word Ergo? What about Impromptu? Quid Pro Quo?
How about any of the words from http://wordinfo.info/unit/3277 ?
You act like we need to use only English words when speaking in English, but the Language inherently draws from other places. We're not going to make up our own words for everything, so before you start trying to find an English name for Sol and Luna, you should first start finding names for every single non-English speaking country, since those all come from their own native tongues.
Um. There are English words for "sol" and "luna". Those English words are "sun" and "moon".

What the fuck, man. Is there something about this post I missed?
Apparently you are, yes.
He's doubting the legitimacy about naming them something Latin because we don't speak Latin.
I then point out that whether or not you are speaking Latin is irrelevant as there are many words that are English and are so from the Latin Root.
 

kortin

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Mar 18, 2011
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Terra, Sol, Luna.

I started calling them by their proper names a while ago. They don't get much use, if I'm honest, but it's always fun to have someone ask me why and then I convert them.

Seriously "The Earth" is so incredibly boring sounding. Same with The Sun and The Moon.
 

Call me Baz

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Nov 26, 2011
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If you think it's that bad, how about realising it's not "our sun that is called the sun", but our STAR is named the sun. If we had been calling it anything else for hundreds of years people would probably wonder why it wasn't called something less prophetic or something.

Remember the ancient cultures used to think that these stars were their actual gods looking down on them, hence their names. If we did have our local star called something like Vishnius (made that one up), probably all atheists and a good chunk of non-Hindus would be annoyed that we named our succour and warmth in this cosmic wasteland after some being that a) does not exist, b) is a false idol or c) might exist but perhaps not in that form.
 

Terrible Opinions

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Sep 11, 2011
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Radoh said:
The Crotch said:
Radoh said:
OlasDAlmighty said:
Bhaalspawn said:
OlasDAlmighty said:
Edit: And for the record, no, their names aren't "Sol" and "Luna". That's just in Star Trek and Mass Effect and probably a few other Sci-fi universes, not RL.
They ARE. Those were the original Latin names they were given "Sol" and "Luna" and are currently the most accepted proper names in the world of science and Astronomy.
Look, I'm sorry but are speaking Latin right now? Maybe you think that this is like with species names where the Latin based name is the scientific one. It's not. Sol is no more it's officially recognized name than the words Soleil, Sonne, or Helios.

And when you say Fiance are you speaking French?
What about when you say Spaghetti, are you speaking Italian?
Have you ever used the word Ergo? What about Impromptu? Quid Pro Quo?
How about any of the words from http://wordinfo.info/unit/3277 ?
You act like we need to use only English words when speaking in English, but the Language inherently draws from other places. We're not going to make up our own words for everything, so before you start trying to find an English name for Sol and Luna, you should first start finding names for every single non-English speaking country, since those all come from their own native tongues.
Um. There are English words for "sol" and "luna". Those English words are "sun" and "moon".

What the fuck, man. Is there something about this post I missed?
Apparently you are, yes.
He's doubting the legitimacy about naming them something Latin because we don't speak Latin.
I then point out that whether or not you are speaking Latin is irrelevant as there are many words that are English and are so from the Latin Root.
But actually using the Latin words would be arbitrary as all fuck. "Fiance" and "spaghetti" are not arbitrary as all fuck because those are the only terms for them an anglophone has. A lot of foreign-language phrases don't translate elegantly or at the very least were grandfathered in.

Whereas saying "sol" and "luna" is, again, arbitrary as all fuck.
 

Radoh

Bans for the Ban God~
Jun 10, 2010
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The Crotch said:
Radoh said:
The Crotch said:
Radoh said:
OlasDAlmighty said:
Bhaalspawn said:
OlasDAlmighty said:
Edit: And for the record, no, their names aren't "Sol" and "Luna". That's just in Star Trek and Mass Effect and probably a few other Sci-fi universes, not RL.
They ARE. Those were the original Latin names they were given "Sol" and "Luna" and are currently the most accepted proper names in the world of science and Astronomy.
Look, I'm sorry but are speaking Latin right now? Maybe you think that this is like with species names where the Latin based name is the scientific one. It's not. Sol is no more it's officially recognized name than the words Soleil, Sonne, or Helios.

And when you say Fiance are you speaking French?
What about when you say Spaghetti, are you speaking Italian?
Have you ever used the word Ergo? What about Impromptu? Quid Pro Quo?
How about any of the words from http://wordinfo.info/unit/3277 ?
You act like we need to use only English words when speaking in English, but the Language inherently draws from other places. We're not going to make up our own words for everything, so before you start trying to find an English name for Sol and Luna, you should first start finding names for every single non-English speaking country, since those all come from their own native tongues.
Um. There are English words for "sol" and "luna". Those English words are "sun" and "moon".

What the fuck, man. Is there something about this post I missed?
Apparently you are, yes.
He's doubting the legitimacy about naming them something Latin because we don't speak Latin.
I then point out that whether or not you are speaking Latin is irrelevant as there are many words that are English and are so from the Latin Root.
But actually using the Latin words would be arbitrary as all fuck. "Fiance" and "spaghetti" are not arbitrary as all fuck because those are the only terms for them an anglophone has. A lot of foreign-language phrases don't translate elegantly or at the very least were grandfathered in.

Whereas saying "sol" and "luna" is, again, arbitrary as all fuck.
Except when use them for naming things. Nisi ego decernere ut iustus satus scribens omnia in Latin ejus ratiocinatione non obstat, as we aren't using those as words, we're using them as names.
 

kortin

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Mar 18, 2011
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Call me Baz said:
If you think it's that bad, how about realising it's not "our sun that is called the sun", but our STAR is named the sun. If we had been calling it anything else for hundreds of years people would probably wonder why it wasn't called something less prophetic or something.

Remember the ancient cultures used to think that these stars were their actual gods looking down on them, hence their names. If we did have our local star called something like Vishnius (made that one up), probably all atheists and a good chunk of non-Hindus would be annoyed that we named our succour and warmth in this cosmic wasteland after some being that a) does not exist, b) is a false idol or c) might exist but perhaps not in that form.
I would have to disagree. My reasoning? I present you exhibit A:


As anyone who has had an Ancient History class or even played Total War: Rome could tell you, Mars is the God of War in Roman mythology. Jupiter is the King of the Gods and the God of the Sky and Thunder. Mercury is the God of Trade. Venus is the Goddess of Love. Saturn is the God of Time and Agriculture. Neptune is the God of the Sea. Uranus was the Greek God of the Sky before Kronos overthrew him. Pluto is the God of the Underworld
 

Roroshi14

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Dec 3, 2009
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Do you remember the big hoopla about Pluto? Imagion that, but like over 9000 more if soomeone changed the name of the sun and/or the moon. I like to think it is because our sun and moon are the og's of the named solar system ergo everyone else is named after them. For example it was called "moon" before it was a moon, therefore all other bodies of matter that are similar are known as moons. Same with suns (except when looked at the bigger picture than they are stars).
 

Terrible Opinions

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Sep 11, 2011
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Radoh said:
The Crotch said:
Radoh said:
The Crotch said:
Radoh said:
OlasDAlmighty said:
Bhaalspawn said:
OlasDAlmighty said:
Edit: And for the record, no, their names aren't "Sol" and "Luna". That's just in Star Trek and Mass Effect and probably a few other Sci-fi universes, not RL.
They ARE. Those were the original Latin names they were given "Sol" and "Luna" and are currently the most accepted proper names in the world of science and Astronomy.
Look, I'm sorry but are speaking Latin right now? Maybe you think that this is like with species names where the Latin based name is the scientific one. It's not. Sol is no more it's officially recognized name than the words Soleil, Sonne, or Helios.

And when you say Fiance are you speaking French?
What about when you say Spaghetti, are you speaking Italian?
Have you ever used the word Ergo? What about Impromptu? Quid Pro Quo?
How about any of the words from http://wordinfo.info/unit/3277 ?
You act like we need to use only English words when speaking in English, but the Language inherently draws from other places. We're not going to make up our own words for everything, so before you start trying to find an English name for Sol and Luna, you should first start finding names for every single non-English speaking country, since those all come from their own native tongues.
Um. There are English words for "sol" and "luna". Those English words are "sun" and "moon".

What the fuck, man. Is there something about this post I missed?
Apparently you are, yes.
He's doubting the legitimacy about naming them something Latin because we don't speak Latin.
I then point out that whether or not you are speaking Latin is irrelevant as there are many words that are English and are so from the Latin Root.
But actually using the Latin words would be arbitrary as all fuck. "Fiance" and "spaghetti" are not arbitrary as all fuck because those are the only terms for them an anglophone has. A lot of foreign-language phrases don't translate elegantly or at the very least were grandfathered in.

Whereas saying "sol" and "luna" is, again, arbitrary as all fuck.
Except when use them for naming things. Nisi ego decernere ut iustus satus scribens omnia in Latin ejus ratiocinatione non obstat, as we aren't using those as words, we're using them as names.
People use "the sun" and "the moon" as their names. They have names. Those are their names.

Some people have used "Sol" and "Luna" as their names in the past, but it never really caught on.

The fact that we so rarely capitalize "the sun" is inconsistent as hell, I'll grant that. But trying to arbitrarily rename (or change the names anglophones use or whatever the fuck) two celestial bodies that already have names? Well... go for it, I guess. I'll be playing videogames.