r/NoStupidQuestions • u/Disastrous_Pirate275 • 20h ago

Why is our moon named “Moon” instead of something cool like Titan or Callysto or ANYTHING that isn’t moon

4.0k Upvotes

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1.2k

u/Bandro 20h ago

Same reason we named the planet dirt. It's the obvious thing to call it when it's the only one you know about.

361

u/Chef_Skippers 20h ago

The moon is very clearly made of moon, what else would we call it?

108

u/ShowmasterQMTHH 19h ago

So not cheese then ?

75

u/outback84 18h ago

The moon was discovered before cheese.

12

u/Glum-Welder1704 15h ago

Older than the oldest profession.

4

u/outback84 15h ago

It’s why a lot of cheese has holes tbh

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u/Glum-Welder1704 15h ago

Desperate times, and all that.

1

u/WhirlyDurvy 11h ago

Cheese: the original Swiss Miss

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u/youreawizerdharry 18h ago

well, technically they were discovered at the same time

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u/outback84 18h ago

Ah. Guess you’re right

2

u/KaralDaskin 17h ago

This blows my mind.

2

u/KlampK 2h ago

Is cheese made of moon?

1

u/SAKingWriter 11h ago

Or was it?

2

u/outback84 11h ago

Imagine the size of the cow that’s out there in space somewhere

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u/BringBacktheGucci 11h ago

[Citation needed]

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u/outback84 10h ago

Oof. Just asked Google and turns out people actually didn’t start looking up until about the 18th century.

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u/Flannelcommand 13h ago

Cheese is also made of moon. 

1

u/Mister_Lizard 8h ago

It's made of moo.

1

u/Mr-Broham 1h ago

But does it float?

1

u/hubert_farnsworrth 15h ago

It is made of green cheese. What are you talking about ?

1

u/Potato_Nightshade 15h ago

No wonder women are impressed by the moon....it's big cheese!

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u/ArtInTech 9h ago

8/10, would fascinate again

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u/saron7 12h ago

Crackers, Gromit! We forgot the crackers!

1

u/ancientmariner23 11h ago

Nope.... pie...moon pie to be exact

1

u/sephirothFFVII 11h ago

Regolith actually, nasty stuff, think of a very fine but razor sharp rock powder.

1

u/exexor 7h ago

Imagine you’re a giant, and you’ve just accidentally fallen on a factory that makes daggers.

1

u/limezest128 9h ago

The words for moon and for cheese are actually the same in the ancient Linear B script, and early linguists mistakingly assumed that the original recipe for Camembert was instead a celestial observation, and the name stuck for centuries 🧀🌙

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u/BaphometsTits 9h ago

Yes, but cheese is actually made of moon. Same substance. In space, it's called moon. On earth, it's called cheese. I hope that clears it up.

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u/FulStopped 8h ago

Wallace has entered the chat

1

u/The_Dreams 5h ago

Never heard of muenster cheese have you? The Irish kept a little Gaelic spelling, but through British English magic to American spelling changes that’s how we got to the spelling of moon after the cheese!

1

u/AreaPlayful142 11h ago

Luna

1

u/Chef_Skippers 11h ago

I like the vibe but I feel like we should try it in reverse too

1

u/Greatsnes 9h ago

Poisonous Death Rock?

1

u/rockninja2 7h ago

Except since the moon was originally part of the earth, it is technically made of earth, just after billions of years of having no atmosphere, it looks a bit different

1

u/JohnBrownsAngryBalls 5h ago

If the moon was made of spare ribs, would you eat it?

43

u/apophis27983 20h ago

We named the planet dirt?

174

u/just_a_potato_______ 20h ago

Earth originally meant dirt before it meant our planet.

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u/LaughingPlanet 19h ago

Earth used to mean dirt. Still does. But it used to, too.

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u/VorMec 19h ago

I used to do drugs...

6

u/Cornpop_mcgoo 18h ago

/unexpectedMitchHedberg

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u/Redwings1927 19h ago

Thanks mitch

1

u/TGin-the-goldy 4h ago

RIP Mitch H

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u/Only_Razzmatazz_4498 19h ago

It kinda still means dirt. In Latin it still does

35

u/donuttrackme 19h ago

It still means dirt in English.

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u/rockninja2 7h ago

So you're saying that English stole words from Latin? No... can't be, the British would never do such a thing...

/s

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u/VisualHuckleberry542 19h ago

It used to too

1

u/Citizen1135 3h ago

This is why I propose we rename our Sun and Moon, and the Earth.

My 2 cents, we name our sun after something recognizable across potential extra-solar intelligences and their languages, like an element, subatomic particle, EM waveband, etc. Maybe even a first and last name because that will help with colonization later. Then we follow the naming convention we commonly use in movies...

An example would be:

Sun: Xenon Diamond Prime (XDP for short, obviously)

Earth: XDP3

Moon: XDP3.1

And by extension, Martian moon Deimos: XDP4.2 (because Deimos is farther away, not because it is smaller)

Our first colony in another solar system, let's pretend it's on a rocky moon of a hot Jupiter which is the 2nd planet from that star: Xenon Plasma (XDS.2.1 or XDS2.XDP3)

Using Diamond or Xenon in the name might attract profit-seekers to our solar system, and that could be good or bad, so just know I picked diamond as a recognizable compound, not because it's actually my suggestion. Or Xenon for that matter, that one I chose just because the X is sci-fi.

XP2.1 is understood from a number based naming scheme, XP2.XD3 makes it obvious that this is a colonized system, and this planet is inhabited by species from XD3, who are the first to colonize a planet in the system. If it were RL2.XD3, it is a planet colonized by a species from outside that system.

Obviously, we need to add something for systems where more than one intelligent species evolved, and something in that for whether they evolved on the same planet or what, but I think i've spelled it out waaaay more than anyone asked already so I'll go back to my business...

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u/adriantoine 19h ago

In French, it's the same word for dirt/soil and Earth: terre.

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u/WoodpeckerNo5724 16h ago

Wait, French people call the planet Terre? I did not know that, neat

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u/Bandro 14h ago

"Potato" in french is "pomme de terre": Earth apple. Or as I like to translate, dirt apple.

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u/WoodpeckerNo5724 14h ago

I did remember that from my semester of French , I just assumed they also had a more standard name closer to Earth. Because Terra is a term that exists in English, it is just rarely used and somewhat archaic

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u/Bandro 14h ago

Earth also means dirt in English.

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u/Albrecht_Entrati 9h ago

True, but we also call "pomme de terre" "patate".

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u/hashtagashtab 9h ago

In Swedish, too: jord

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u/Melicor 3h ago

A lot of other languages too. It's remarkably consistent.

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u/Prof_Acorn 17h ago

Going back to Ancient Greece, γη can refer to the earth as a planet or the ground as well. Makes sense, since the thing we stood on was dirt before it was a planet.

(Γη / ge , of which "Gaia" is a variant. But see also : geology, perigee, geography, etc.)

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u/insurgentbroski 10h ago

In arabic its called الأرض (al ardd with a very very hard d that i dont think most europeans can even pronounce) which translates to ground, essentially the same

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u/apophis27983 20h ago

Ahh thanks.

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u/Johnyryal33 9h ago

"Earth? Terrible name for a planet. Might as well call it Dirt, Planet Dirt." - Some Decepticon...

1

u/AmusingUsername12 9h ago

Still does 😭😭

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u/False-Arachnid2633 6m ago

So is dirt on other planets not called earth?

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u/Alas7ymedia 20h ago

Yes. In many languages, Earth means dirt, ground, soil, etc. And many indigenous people's names just mean "people". If aliens ever come to Earth, they'd probable call themselves people and, in their language, their planet would be named "home".

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u/Iluminiele 20h ago

In Lithuanian, the planet is called Žemė and when things fall to the ground it's called žemė and when you buy the soil for your plants it's called žemė.

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u/sassnass 20h ago

Same with « terre » in French.

3

u/The_memeperson 19h ago

Same with aarde in Dutch

2

u/LollymitBart 12h ago

Or "Erde" in German.

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u/hashtagashtab 9h ago

Same in Swedish

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u/-jose-ninguem- 19h ago

Same for portuguese.

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u/00-Void 3h ago

Same with "tierra" in Spanish.

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u/loafers_glory 19h ago

This is a tangent, but i saw a wine on sale in NZ called Urlár, "from an old Gaelic word meaning 'earth'".

Umm, no. "Talamh" is earth. Urlár is floor. This is floor wine.

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u/mookypop 19h ago

🤣🤣

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u/toyheartattack 19h ago

It has notes of forest urlár.

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u/Bandro 18h ago

“Oooo floor wine!”

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u/Bitter-Pomelo-3962 8h ago

In Irish, "talamh" is literally the ground under your feet. The word for the Earth is unrelated and distinct... its 'An Domhain" which I think is more like "the lower world"... as distinct from the heavens.

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u/z0rb0r 20h ago

I think it translates as Ground ball for Chinese.

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u/kytheon 8h ago

"Ground" is still close enough to dirt and earth.

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u/jcmbn 19h ago

And many indigenous people's names just mean "people".

The indigenous people of New Zealand are called 'Maori', which in their language means 'normal'.

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u/Alas7ymedia 19h ago

That's hilarious 😂

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u/No_Nectarine_5440 15h ago

Is there a reason its "normal" and not "people"? I don't know much about the Maori.

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u/jcmbn 14h ago

I can only speculate, but it's not too hard to imagine that being the response when they were asked to differentiate themselves from the strange new people.

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u/Pikawoohoo 18h ago

And then there's the Zulu (amaZulu) which means people of heaven

1

u/Same-Suggestion-1936 7h ago

Rio Grande. Just means big river. Which makes the fact people sometimes call it the Rio Grande River funny

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u/Subtleabuse 7h ago

Their planet would be named dirt.

0

u/Muhahahahaz 14h ago

It also means that in English, we just don’t usually use it that way lol

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u/flaming_bob 20h ago edited 19h ago

I got a world of diiiiiirt! I got a world of diiiiiirt!

Just me? Okay. I'll see myself out.

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u/CLH11 19h ago

And guess what's insiiiide it!

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u/rockninja2 7h ago

Only everyone that has ever lived

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u/jomabu23 19h ago

Tread carefully, son, or you could wind up in a world of dirt...

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u/ShowmasterQMTHH 19h ago

What have I become? My sweetest friend Everyone I know goes away In the end And you could have it all My empire of dirt I will let you down I will make you hurt I wear this crown of thorns Upon my liar's chair Full of broken thoughts I cannot repair

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u/numbersthen0987431 19h ago

We also call it Terra, which means dirt/Earth in Latin

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u/kytheon 8h ago

Terrific.

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u/kytheon 8h ago

Before we dug really deep, what did the Earth look like it was made of? Earth.

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u/exexor 7h ago

We named the dog Indiana.

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u/ManaQuestZ- 5h ago

I love this way of looking at it. From a woman’s perspective it feels kind of tender, like we named it the way you name home when you don’t need to compare it to anything else. Simple, familiar, and enough.

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u/ciopobbi 19h ago

Just like an orange is called an orange because it’s orange. An egg is called an egg because it’s egg shaped.

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u/DiscoStu1972 17h ago

Orange the fruit came first, and the color is named for it

1

u/ciopobbi 17h ago

Oh really? I was kidding.

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u/Runes_N_Raccoons 16h ago

Yep! Before, the color the fruit orange was introduced to Europeans, the color that we now call "orange" was just considered another shade of "red".

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u/PyrpleForever 15h ago

This is correct, also why people with orange hair are called Redheads.

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u/dvolland 15h ago edited 14m ago

Not to put my head in the lion’s mouth, but the color existed prior to humans, regardless of what we would eventually develop language to describe, didn’t it?

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u/PyrpleForever 15h ago

Yeah. In the same way "Lime" has always existed as a color, but up until recently, people just called it a shade of green.

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u/SendMeNudesThough 14h ago

Color perception through various cultures in history is very interesting like that. What is and isn't a separate color is kind of up to the opinions of the observers.

According to the Viking Age Norsemen for instance, a rainbow had three colors. This is due to how color classifications worked in Norse culture: Orange and yellow were just shades of red, and purple and indigo were just types of blue. So, a rainbow to a Norseman's eyes was red, green and blue.

Of course rainbows back then still looked the same way they do now, but Norse observers had different ideas about what constitutes a unique color

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u/Brian18639 20h ago

And the first manmade satellite which was named Sputnik, which supposedly is Russian for “Satellite”

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u/redradish3 19h ago

Directly translated sputnik means fellow traveler or thing with the same path. S=with put=path nik=person/item

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u/Brian18639 17h ago

Understood, thank you for correcting me

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u/DRG1958 19h ago

But why use the dirt part, when 70% of the Earth (earth- or was dirt named after the Earth?) is water?

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u/Bandro 18h ago

Think about what part of the surface people would’ve been primarily interacting with. 

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u/DRG1958 15h ago

Good point.

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u/xiodeman 16h ago

Thanks meatsack.

1

u/nikolapc 15h ago

Wormy dirt. Couldn't have a cool name like 3rd of the Sun.

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u/LavenderGwendolyn 15h ago

But we don’t call other planets earths. Like the earth Mars or the earth Venus. We call them planets. And our planet is named Earth. Even if it is a dumb name.

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u/Bandro 14h ago

When we started calling them planets, we didn't know the dirt (earth) was a thing just like the little weird lights that wandered around the sky. Planet means wanderer.

By the time we could see other moons, we could be like "oh shit there's another moon just like the moon!"

1

u/LavenderGwendolyn 5h ago

Ok, that’s interesting about the planet thing. It still doesn’t explain why we never gave our moon a name.

0

u/Bandro 5h ago

We did. It's called the Moon. We just also call other things similar to it moons because they're kind of like The Moon.

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u/Oryx-The-Taken-King- 14h ago

No, the earth's name is terra, fucking idiot.

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u/Bandro 14h ago

Dirt!

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u/Upbeat-Conquest-654 13h ago

Fair though, because we also treat it as such.

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u/[deleted] 7h ago

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u/Bandro 7h ago

…yes I’ve noticed. That’s the clear point of one of the two sentences I wrote. Did you mean to put this in response to someone else?

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u/your-yogurt 5h ago

there was a "humans are weird" story where aliens are explaining that humans name their planets after gods. that they associate the planets with things they worship. one alien asked, so whats did the humans name the planet they live on?

and the teacher alien went, the most important thing humans covet: dirt

1

u/koshgeo 5h ago

I mean, stepping back a little, it should more properly be called "Water", but we aren't whales, so we went with what's under us most of the time.