What is the Name our Moon?

[gregebowman]

One interesting little fact about hte moon and/or luna, is that the word lunatic comes from people who were acting strange during a full moon. I think this was during the 1600's or 1700's, and it might have been in England. I don't recall all of the circumstances now, but since the word lunatic came from the moon, I guess it would provide proof that the offical name back then was Luna.

[Fyron]

Originally posted by Rollo:
BTW, one thing I always found interesting is the fact that in latin Languages the Moon is female and the Sun is male. In germanic Languages it is the other way around.

What's your view on this? (and how about some more examples from other Languages and parts of the world)

It has to do with the gender of the gods associated with the sun and moon in Roman/Greek and Norse mythologies.

[General Woundwort]

Originally posted by Cheeze:
Hey, John Wayne could name his dog DOG. If it was good enough for the Duke, it's good enough for me.

I plan to have a dog with the name STAY.

My JH english teacher had a dog, named "Spot". Yeah, pretty unoriginal, except he used to call out whenever he let it out of the house, "Out, out, damned Spot!"

{this is not a joke.}

[Master Belisarius]

In spanish, the name for the Moon is "Luna", and also, the name for the Sun is "Sol". When we talk about other Planet's satellites, we name them "lunas" too... same thing but talking about others suns.

Then, if you ask me, think the true names in English are simply Moon and Sun.

[Cipher7071]

I say Lord Chane has it about right. Likewise, the Greeks called the moon goddess "Selene". I'm sure there are other names in other Languages that I'm not aware of, but it seems safe to assume that early names for the moon in any language referred to our moon, and not just any satellite. Naturally, our moon was the only such body known in prehistoric times.

edit: It's discoverer is sometimes referred to as Pithecanthropus, which I think refers to the first human being.

[ January 27, 2004, 16:52: Message edited by: Cipher7071 ]

[spoon]

The answer is: The Moon

The source is: HERE

[Greybeard]

Originally posted by spoon:
The answer is: The Moon

The source is: HERE

Actually, according to this source, the name is: Moon

There is no capitalized "the" in the name.

Greybeard