I love that ‘moon’ is written under ‘place.’

  • samus12345@lemmy.world
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    9 months ago

    We’re gonna have to make the Moon’s name more specific if we ever survive long enough to colonize other planets. It’s like if Earth’s name were Planet.

    • CeruleanRuin@lemmy.world
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      9 months ago

      “Earth” literally just means “the dirt under your feet”.

      But most of us don’t identify our location so broadly. We say what state or country we’re in, and identify culturally that way. I imagine that won’t change when there are people living on the Moon. They’ll identify by the name of the base or settlement they live in.

        • gamermanh@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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          9 months ago

          Luna is Latin for the moon

          Selene is Greek for the goddess and personification of the moon

          “The Moon” is it’s actual name these days but either of those options is a fair pick given their oldness

          • abbotsbury@lemmy.world
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            9 months ago

            I mean, yeah, many celestial bodies take their names from Latin. Like how the proper name of the sun is Sol, which matches solar, the lunar object would be called Luna. Selene feels like a retronym to match other Greek deities, and would be like renaming Earth to Gaia

            either of those options is a fair pick given their oldness

            Luna would definitely rank over Selene in the Western astronomical tradition. As you say, its name is just The Moon, which is what Luna means in many current day Latin derived languages

            • lambalicious@lemmy.sdf.org
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              9 months ago

              renaming the Earth, or the Moon

              I’d be totally up with renaming out Tierra and Luna to something that is not eurocentric. Would be a nice change of pace against how much of immediate astronomy is caught up in remixes of Greek and Latin.

              • abbotsbury@lemmy.world
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                9 months ago

                It’s only Eurocentric in the Western tradition, and even then the names of many stars come from Arabic.