Should the moon have a name?

[Queso]

Luna's stellar.

 

When someone's talking about mugwort, I can't help but get excited.

It's not a drug, nor does it alter your mind while you are awake.

I am fascinated that this herb resonates with us even while stationary.

You should try it!

I've had amazingly vivid complex dreams the days I've interacted with this herb, especially while meditating on the moon.

 

The moon ties everything Gaian together.

 

And who cares about the moon's name? Call it whatever you want.

I'll section off a crater with mooncement and call it

 

"aumahndabixalacomaflow"

 

Don't talk to me as if I were a dog.:D

[jungjedi]

The Mayan Moon Goddess

According to Central Mexican (non-Mayan) traditions, the Moon and the Sun were created at the same time. Their creation took place at the central Mexican city of Teotihuacan at the dawn of the current cycle of cosmic creation. Two gods, Tecuciztecatl and Nanahuatzin threw themselves into the Fires of Creation and turned into two suns. But the gods who had assembled for this great event threw a rabbit into the face of Tecuciztecatl, thus dimming his brilliance so he became the Moon.

 

According to the Maya creation story, the POPOL VUH, once the Hero Twins Hunahpu and Xbalanque finished with their defeat of the Lords of Death and resurrected their father Hun-Hunahpu the Maize God in the ballcourt of Xibalba, they ascended to the heavens. In one version of the POPOL VUH one twin became the Sun and the other Venus, and in another, one became the Sun and the other the Moon.

 

Therefore, for the pre-Columbians of Central America the Moon was created through a process of transformation in which either divine or semi-divine beings through their own choice sacrificed themselves to become this heavenly body.

 

In addition to their famous solar calendar, the Maya also used a lunar calendar. It complemented the solar data given in inscriptions and is called the Lunar Series, or the Supplementary Series in older writings. Within the Lunar Series the Maya used a number of hieroglyphics, the majority of yet are still undeciphered as to their exact meanings. This series of usually six hieroglyphics denoted the length of the current lunar cycle and the age of the current moon, meaning what stage it was at during the lunar cycle according to the solar date of the inscription. The length of this Lunar "month" was approximately 29 days and measured the days between the appearance of two moons.

 

[N.B. The Mad Hatter also seems to have used a lunar calendar. Click here to find out what I'm on about. Click here for other Lunar calendars - Ian]

 

The Maya, like cultures all over the world, had a Moon Goddess. In Classic Period art (400 B. C. - A. D. 900) she is depicted as a young beautiful woman. During the Classic Period, as far as scholars can determine, her name was not mentioned in conjunction with her depictions. All we know is that she was a beautiful maiden, which brings to mind the Maiden aspect of the Goddess so prevellant throughout Europe as well as other parts of the world. One of the most famous depictions of the Mayan Moon Goddess has her sitting within a crescent moon with a foot dangling over the edge. She is seen in profile and holds a rabbit in her arms. Along with many Native Americans, the Maya say the profile of this rabbit can be seen on the surface of the Full Moon. The rabbit she holds recalls the rabbit used by the gods at Teotihuacan to dim the face of Tecuciztecatl who became the Moon.

 

The Moon Goddess played an important part in Classic Period hieroglyphic inscriptions. Her head was used to denote the numeral one and also as a prefix to the names of Maya noble women, which served to differentiate their names from those of male Maya nobles. The Mayan Moon Goddess is believed by many modern-day Maya to be a feisty woman. It is believed that in the distant past she often quarreled with her husband, the Sun, who became so angry with his wife that he poked out one of her eyes, that is why she is dimmer than her celestial spouse to this day. There are Classic Period depictions of the Moon Goddess that may indicate that in addition to being feisty and hard to handle, she was also promiscuous. On a number of painted vessels she is depicted with various males who hug her or overtly fondle her breasts, something I am sure displeased Father Sun. Other times she is even seen in the company of man-sized rabbits.

 

The Mayan Moon Goddess was seen as the Goddess of childbirth, procreation, marriage, and had the power to bring about birth and rebirth. In this way, her vast powers mirror those of the Mother Goddess, Creatrix of the Universe. Nowadays, the Moon Goddess still holds a prominent position for the Maya, but she herself has gone through a type of transformation. With the advent of the Catholic Church, Mayan idols were smashed, their books were burned and their shamans and priests were tortured. Many went into hiding regarding their beliefs and kept small altars to the gods hidden in the surrounding forest, far from the eyes of the Europeans. However, one god had no reason to hide. The Moon Goddess as the beautiful young maiden who presided over childbirth and marriage was quickly identified with the Virgin Mary; and, as such, she has held her position of esteem in Mayan religion to this very day.

[Queso]

that was interesting....

 

where'd you get that text?

 

I wonder if by "lunar calender" they're talking about the Tzolkin?

(260 day calender based on the 13 orbits the moon makes around the Earth)

[Qfwfq]

The English name Moon originates from the same roots as the word month, and thus is most appropriately a name for Earth's natural satellite. Its use as a noun for satellites in general is really just an example of antonomasia. It would however be a good idea to use another name that is never used for other satellites.

 

"

Cynthiae figuras emulatur mater amorum.

"

[DougF]

This is the way I remember it :D

"The" Moon: "Luna"

"The" Earth: "Terra"

"The" Sun: "Sol"

and I don't see any reason to change it. ;)

[CraigD]

I believe that a thing should only be considered to have a proper name if it will respond to it. Dog’s tend to qualify, cat’s not (“kitty kitty kitty” doesn’t count), astronomical bodies definitely not, supernatural entities (such as the minor deities associated with the Moon), only in dreams, visions, and during momentary or prolonged psychosis, endogenous or drug-induced.

 

Mouthy apes that we are, we given names to everything we see, and quite a few things we imagine, showing utter disregard for my belief. The Moon, therefore, has more names than all the world’s historians and anthropologists can catalog, despite my wish that it just be given a catalog number, and everybody move on.

 

:D Come to think of it, that’s an even more interesting question: has the Moon ever been assigned a number in any astronomical catalog?

[Guest chendoh]

TheMoon

It seems unfair that all moons of other planets have their own name (such as Io or Titan or Phobos) but our Moon does not, but if you know the history of astronomy then you can understand it.

You can usually still determine which celestial object is meant if someone writes about a moon: If the word "Moon" is written with a capital M, then it means our Moon which orbits around the Earth. If the word "moon" is written with a small m, then it does not mean our Moon but some other moon or moons in general. You can write: The Moon is a moon, and although there are many moons, there is only one Moon.

http://www.fys.ruu.nl/~strous/AA/en/antwoorden/namen.html

 

 

 

The word moon is Old English from older Germanic origins, with links back to Latin mensis, and back further to the PIE root of me- as in measure[4] (time), with reminders of its importance in measuring time in words derived from it like Monday, month and menstrual.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moon

 

 

 

Lithuanian Ethnoastronomy

II. MOON

1. The Name of the Moon and its Origin

The Moon - the brightest and the most impressive heavenly body in the nocturnal sky was called Mėnulis, Mėnuo, Mėnesis. The words ‘‘mėnuo, mėnesis’‘ also stand for the measure of the calendar - a month.

These names of the Moon are considered straightforward derivatives from the Indo-European protolanguage:

*menes-, *men(n)s 'Moon' and 'month' probably stem from *me- 'to measure'.

http://ausis.gf.vu.lt/eka/eastr/moon1.html

 

 

 

 

The Moon, in particular, has had several names given to it by the many cultures which did and still inhabit the Earth. It was seen by the Greeks as Artemis, the goddess of the hunt, perhaps a reference to the pre-Greek pantheon nocturnal hunting customs. Several cultures have seen the Moon as a god being chased across the sky by a Sun goddess. Some cultures trying to explain the different shapes of the moon (phases) saw them as the story of life and death: the crescent moon is the infant, growing stronger and stronger until maturity at full moon and then growing weaker and weaker and then dying at new moon, only to be born again. The ancient Egyptians called the moon Khonser, which means "traveling through a marsh". Someone traveling through a marsh would be partly obscured by marsh grass for most of his journey, not unlike the appearance of the phases of the moon. Then around 2,000 years ago, the Greeks devised a model to show the moon phases that is still valid now.

http://hea-www.harvard.edu/ECT/the_book/Chap6/Chapter6.html

 

 

 

So………………………

It seems to me that in the ‘ancient times’, Cultures developed their own ‘moniker’ for that ‘object’ that crosses our sky, and it usually had to do with ‘time and/or a journey’.

Back then, 'cultures' didn't have 'something called the IAU', to butt heads with.

 

After a few millennia this name reference boiled down to just the Moon, especially in English language countries.

I am sure that in other present day cultures, Humanity’s Moon is still being called something that relates to what ‘that cultures’ used to.

 

To paraphrase:

You can usually still determine which celestial object is meant if someone writes about a moon: If the word "Moon" is written with a capital M, then it means our Moon which orbits around the Earth. If the word "moon" is written with a small m, then it does not mean our Moon but some other moon or moons in general. You can write:

 

The Moon is a moon, and although there are many moons, there is only one Moon.

http://www.fys.ruu.nl/~strous/AA/en/antwoorden/namen.html

 

 

 

After all………

 

A cigar is just a cigar.

-Freud

 

 

:D

[Pyrotex]

The Moon's name is Celene,

She called herself Jeanne,

But everyone knew her as Nancy. :singer:

[Boerseun]

I believe that a thing should only be considered to have a proper name if it will respond to it.

So you wanna tell me I screwed up when I called my fern 'Percy'? :singer:

[freeztar]

So you wanna tell me I screwed up when I called my fern 'Percy'? :singer:

 

Yes. Percy is not a very asexual name. You need something more androgynous, like Pat.

Amazingly, I'm able to get my plants to respond to any name I choose. The only caveat is that it only works when the sun is behind me for some reason, but sure enough they slowly tilt and face me when called.

[Qfwfq]

Goodness Freez you must have an awful lot of patience! :confused:

 

I've been told an anecdote from when I was a few years old. I saw the her hurrying her way through the clouds in the evening sky, and kept shouting "Hey Moon! Where ya goin' Moon! Come back Moon!" but she just plain ignored me.

 

Betcha I should have called her Cynthia, she just hates being called Moon.

[Jim Colyer]

Diana

[tierradelfuego]

The Moon. The Sun. The Sky.

 

The solar system.

 

Have any of you ever talked to the moon?

 

Talk to the moon and ask her what her name is.

She is a goddess that has feelings, too.

 

:winter_brr:

 

I also like the suggestion of "George".

 

"I will name him George, and I will hug him, and pet him, and squeeze him."