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
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 Ura Neptú Plutó
Romanian Soare Mercur Venus Pamint Luna Marte Jupiter Saturn Uranus Neptun Pluto
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 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
Finnish Aurinko Merkurius Venus Maa Kuu Mars Jupiter Saturnus Uranus Neptunus Pluto
Estonian Päike Merkuur Veenus Maa Kuu Mars Jupiter Saturnus Uraanus Neptun 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
Polish Slonce Merkury Wenus Ziemia Ksiezyc Mars Jowisz Saturn Uran Neptun Pluton
Russian Solnce Merkurij Venera Zemlja Luna Mars Yupiter Saturn Uran Neptun Pluton
Greek Helios Hermes Aphrodite Gea Selene Ares Zeus Kronos Uranos Poseidon Pluton
Irish Grian Mearcair Véineas An Domhan Gealach Mars Iúpatar Satarn Uránas Neiptiún Plútón
Turkish Günes Merkür C,ulpan Yer Ay Merih Erendiz Sekendiz Uranus Neptün Plüton
Uzbek Quyosh Utorid Zuhra Yer Oy Mirrikh Mushtarij Zuhal ? ? ?
Farsi Khorshid Tir Zhore Zamin Mah Merrikh Moshtari Kayvon Oranos Nepton Pluton
Arabic Shams Otaared Zuhra Ard Quamar Merrikh Mushtarie Zuhal Uraanus Niptuun Plutoon
Hebrew Shemesh Kokhav Khama Nogah Kadur Ha'Aretz Yareakh Ma'adim Tzedek Shabtay Uranus Neptune Pluto
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.
- 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.
Here they are in Arabic script: (3k gif).
- The apostrophe character in the Latvian line is a diacritical mark for a long vowel, which is
a straight line over the letter.
- 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.
- 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, 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 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 lunedì
Mars Martis Tiu Tuesday martedì
Mercury Mercurii Woden Wednesday mercoledì
Jupiter Jovis Thor Thursday giovedì
Venus Veneris Frigg Friday venerdì
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
... Origin
... Linguistics
... Names
... 
Bill Arnett; last updated:
1996 August 25
