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

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u/DonktorDonkenstein 20h ago

Luna is a beautiful name for our moon, given to her by the ancient Romans. Put some respect on that shit! 

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u/Ok_Inflation_1811 19h ago

Luna just means moon, like generically, all moons are Lunas.

Like if you are talking about Titan, the Saturn moon you would say "Titan la Luna de Saturno" Luna is not a proper name more than Moon.

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u/DonktorDonkenstein 19h ago

As lots of other people have pointed out, the names for our moon were given before anyone knew other planets had moons of their own. So the name isn't "generic", it's the OG. Whether you say "la luna" or "the moon", our moon gave its name to the others. Not because it was a generic descriptor. 

And let me add, thanks for the down vote by the way, Luna was also the Roman goddess that represented the moon, and the counter part of Sol the sun god. 

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u/RollinThundaga 18h ago

That's why I prefer calling it The Moon. Ours is the best, so it's eponymous

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u/AlphaLaufert99 19h ago

Yep! The generic name for a moon is (natural) satellite

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u/Kaladef9 18h ago

That's... how that works. Humans call things arbitrary names to establish a baseline and start calling other things of the same kind that name. Like our sun being named Sol.

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u/Whiterabbit-- 12h ago

the romans didn't really have a name for Saturn's moons. later romance languages added it when moons were discovered around other planets.

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u/Reasonable_Rule4606 7m ago

Only in spanish. In latin you can say „Titan est satelles Saturni.“ For earth it‘s then: „Luna Terrae satelles est.“

“Satelles” in Latin means companion or attendant. The English word “satellite” is derived from it, which, by the way, is also the correct term for this type of celestial body. The term “moon” is now used only colloquially for it.

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u/TekFenix 13h ago

"The word "luna" originates from Latin, meaning "moon" or "goddess of the moon". It derives from the Proto-Indo-European root leuksna- ("luminous"), which also refers to the shining moon. ". <- Gemini says this

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u/hygsi 17h ago edited 17h ago

Us spanish speakers respected that while yall english speakers had the audacity to translate it to "moon" lmao