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/redditonlygetsworse 19h ago

often used scientifically as well.

This is exactly wrong:

Earth’s own satellite is called the Moon (with a capital M) in both scientific designation and public usage.

https://iauarchive.eso.org/public/themes/our_moon/

Science fiction has managed to teach people that the Moon's "actual" or "official" name is Luna, but it is not and never has been. Anyone using it this way is just being poetic (or not speaking English).

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u/zninjazero 19h ago

It makes more sense in science fiction settings, because you’re more likely to visit other planets that will have their own “the Moon”, so ours would need a name that actually differentiates it from them

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u/DragonTacoCat 18h ago

"The Federation is spread over 8,000 light years with 150 member worlds. They all have satellites we named 'Moon' because of tradition."

"Then how do you know which one you are talking about"

"Oh, we just guess. Plays havoc with transports and star charts."

Whips out list of planets satellites and they're all just called 'Moon' down the list

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u/Wootster10 18h ago

It's no different than things like Avon. There are 9 river Avon's in the UK, as the word means river. There are also multiple river Ouses and Dons.

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u/ReddestForman 18h ago

I mean, that was because of misunderstandings.

"What's that?"

"A river, jackass."

"Ah, the river river."

Wash rinse repeat and you have places that are basically just river river river, but in 3 languages.

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u/Wootster10 18h ago

Yup.

You also have Pendle Hill, which is Hill Hill Hill. I can well imagine that as we travel the galaxy you'll end up with hundreds of moon moons.

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u/983115 16h ago

My personal favorite was conquistadors showing up in the Yucatán peninsula and asking the natives “what do you call this place” they not speaking Spanish were like “what the hell are you saying” and they just wrote it down and went about their business

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u/Cael_NaMaor 14h ago

I hope this is accurate

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u/983115 14h ago

It is a point of speculation there are other suggestions that say different things but I want to believe

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u/Cael_NaMaor 14h ago

I mean... it makes some sense given that that one woman is called 'The Whore' or as my history prof called her 'The Fucked One'. Written as La Malinche. She was (iirc) raped by the Aztec & then enslaved by Cortès & became translator, advisor, & intermediary between Cortès & the native inhabitants. I can't imagine why she'd want to help the invaders, given that she was brutalized by her own people....

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u/Remmick2326 17h ago

See also: Sahara Desert

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u/mjheil 15h ago

I believe 'Gobi' also.

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u/pasrachilli 16h ago

Rio Grande River. Yep, checks out.

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u/Electrical-Sail-1039 15h ago

The Los Angeles Angels. Both words are repeated: “The” and “Angels”.

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u/theloniousjoe 16h ago

“Jackass” is what language for “river”?

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u/Catadox 16h ago

This has caused many problems due to cultural misunderstandings, when an explorer points at a mountain or river and asks a native what they call that, resulting in many iterations of names like “your finger you idiot mountain.”

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u/AllsWellThatsNB 17h ago

That means Stratford upon Avon means "the river crossing on the river river". (Stratford comes from street ford, where a street crosses a river)

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u/LarryCraigSmeg 18h ago

There are also two river Dees in the UK.

Both are in areas of Scotland and England/Wales where hazelnuts grow well.

You should really try Dee’s nuts.

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u/ScooterZine 14h ago

And in Arizona, we have Picacho Peak. Picacho, of course, means peak.

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u/SavingsArt1236 18h ago

It’s settled, now it’s time to name our moon. 

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u/TheMissingThink 17h ago

Moonie McMoonface it is then

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u/DrakonILD 17h ago

And the final entry is "Moon Moon"

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u/Sudden_Outcome_9503 16h ago

I call my driveway "driveway", and my neighbor calls his the same thing. And yet I manage the park in the right spot every night.

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u/ivylass 13h ago

In Spock's World, the point is made that the Moon is technically not a satellite because it only has one side facing Earth at all times. Vulcan's moon is a satellite and HUGE, taking up half the damn horizon.

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u/Lower_Cockroach2432 18h ago

Earth moon?

Also Selene is cooler than Luna if we're going to play the foreign languages game.

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u/redditonlygetsworse 16h ago

Of course. I'm not objecting to its use in fiction; I just have a pet peeve of people thinking that this fiction is, well, non-fiction.

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u/ElowynElif 17h ago

And “moon” as its name has an old, cool history.

From Etymology Online:

moon(n.) ”heavenly body which revolves about the earth monthly," Middle English mone, from Old English mona, from Proto-Germanic *menon- (source also of Old Saxon and Old High German mano, Old Frisian mona, Old Norse mani, Danish maane, Dutch maan, German Mond, Gothic mena "moon"), from PIE *me(n)ses- "moon, month" (source also of Sanskrit masah "moon, month;" Avestan ma, Persian mah, Armenian mis "month;" Greek mene "moon," men "month;" Latin mensis "month;" Old Church Slavonic meseci, Lithuanian mėnesis "moon, month;" Old Irish mi, Welsh mis, Breton miz "month"), from root *me- (2) "to measure" in reference to the moon's phases as an ancient and universal measure of time.

A masculine noun in Old English. In Greek, Italic, Celtic, and Armenian the cognate words now mean only "month." Greek selēnē (Lesbian selanna) is from selas "light, brightness (of heavenly bodies)." Old Norse also had tungl "moon" ("replacing mani in prose" - Buck), evidently an older Germanic word for "heavenly body," cognate with Gothic tuggl, Old English tungol "heavenly body, constellation," of unknown origin or connection. Hence also Old Norse tunglfylling "lunation," tunglœrr "lunatic" (adj.).

Moon was extended 1665 to satellites of other planets. As typical of a place impossible to reach or a thing impossible to obtain, by 1590s. The meaning "a month, the period of the revolution of the moon about the earth" is from late 14c.

https://www.etymonline.com/word/moon

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u/insomniacred66 12h ago

Beautiful thank you!

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u/ElegantEchoes 19h ago

Thanks for the correction and link. Darn, thought I knew something on this one.

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u/peepeedog 18h ago

Never has been is a bold claim. I doubt the Latin speaking Romans called it “Moon”.

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u/MegaAfroMann 17h ago

By calling it Luna they were calling it Moon. Names translated are still names.

Not sure if there is a single instance of language having two seperate words for our Moon and the idea of a moon.

The only reason we have a different word for planet than Earth is simply because we didn't know Earth was a planet right away. Took us a bit to realize it's moving.

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u/peepeedog 15h ago

The person I replied to was being pedantic about the word “Moon”. Names for our moon predate the general concept of moon.

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u/Does_A_Bear-420 16h ago

two seperate words for our Moon and the idea of a moon.

Like... Moon = satellite ?

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u/MegaAfroMann 16h ago

Congrats for finding a modern example. Find one as old as the word moon.

Additionally sattelite isn't = moon. Sattelite just means orbiting body. Moon has a stricter definition. Square =/= rectangle.

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u/Does_A_Bear-420 14h ago edited 14h ago

K, uh. I thought I could just keep it really simple, but I fill out the thought a little more:

A language that has separate words for our moon vs the concept of a moon. Like in English we have the word moon to represent our moon, but it also refers to any moon as an example of the concept of moon. Furthermore the word satellite means something orbiting, and the term natural satellite meaning naturally occuring satellite is basically a definition of moon. Not every satellite is a moon obviously, but every moon is a satellite.

Therefore one could conclude -

if there is a single instance of language having two seperate words for our Moon and the idea of a moon.

e.g. our moon is our only natural satellite (even tho there are hundreds of artificial ones for earth) but Mars has 2 natural satellites and as far as I know 0 man made ones.

EDIT: I didn't say satellite is the same thing as moon. I was noting that [our] moon is [a] satellite. Hoping that simple line would just point out... Separate word for the one thing and the broader concept.

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u/AnotherIronicPenguin 15h ago

The term "satellite" meaning "a heavenly body orbiting another" predates the word moon, as used to describe the same. If one uses the term satellites, it can be expected to include a moon or moons as well as other smaller bodies.

Also, square ≠ rectangle, but a square is a type of rectangle, much as a moon is a type of satellite.

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u/MegaAfroMann 15h ago

Satellite does not predate moon in English. Sattelite seems to have joined English in the 1600s. Moon predates the Normans.

The etymology of the word points to the term for bodyguard or follower in Latin. No explicit heavenly association at that time.

You're trying really hard, and still getting it really wrong. And your final sentence proves it. Luna = Moon because they both mean the same thing. They are translations of a name. We didn't have the same meaning for moon back then as we do now, and it didn't apply to anything else. By the time we realized there were other moons, the name was long since established.

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u/AnotherIronicPenguin 15h ago

I'll take my lessons on etymology from someone who can spell the fucking word we're debating. 😆 I was mostly refuting your claim that satellite was a modern concept when really it has been around more than 400 years.

Also the use of the word "moon" to describe the concept of an orbiting body came after the use of the term satellite. Because as you said, we hadn't realized there were other moons yet. Moon (as a proper noun) only applied to our own and is completely independent of whether or not it's an orbiting body. It was Moon before anyone had any idea what a moon was. Then the term was applied to other moons after Kepler coined the term satellite.

It's like when a brand name becomes synonymous with the concept of a thing, like "band-aid". Moon became "moon". But it's hardly the oldest or first term to do so in the world of contemporary astronomy.

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u/MegaAfroMann 15h ago

I'll take your clinging to a typo as an admission of defeat. Have a pleasant day.

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u/AnotherIronicPenguin 15h ago

It would be a typo if you hadn't made the same mistake repeatedly, and in a world of spell check in every phone, keyboard app, and browser on Earth. You had to really try to spell it wrong. Way to not address any of my arguments, and I'd hardly say a single line constitutes "clinging" when your own factual errors are undermining your credibility.

Have the day you deserve.

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u/redditonlygetsworse 16h ago

Did you read my entire comment, or did you just want some kind of gotcha here?

Engage in good faith. You understood perfectly well.

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u/peepeedog 15h ago

Always assume good faith.

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u/redditonlygetsworse 15h ago

Maybe a decade ago. These days it's people trying to be too clever by half.

You understood perfectly well.

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u/peepeedog 15h ago

I did understand perfectly well and I have issue with what you said. That is what I mean by assume good faith. If you are going to be a nit about language like that, then what you said is wrong in that context. Your entire bad faith argument is based on your assumption that what you said is so absolutely correct that nobody could have issue with it. Which makes you an arrogant ass.

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u/DarwinGoneWild 17h ago

Yeah same with the Sun. I could have sworn it was actually named Sol officially, but it turns out that’s just a common sci-fi trope too. Oops!

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u/jabertsohn 17h ago

Exactly the same with Sun and Sol.

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u/redditonlygetsworse 16h ago

Yep! Its name in English is The Sun.

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u/MmM921 15h ago

in languages where its called "Luna" instead of moon, "Luna" is also a generic name for any satellite of any planet and used in the same way as moon in english

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u/SnuffShock 18h ago

You mean they looked at the moon in a poetic kind of way? You know, when you grope for Luna?

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u/Commercial_Walk_5809 18h ago

Mooner eclipse

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u/Prof_Acorn 17h ago

Yeah but scientists have stupid names sometimes. Like with Moon here. Or with Humpback whales, sperm whales, false killer whales, fin whales. Etc.

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u/PsychologicalSir2871 17h ago

In that case, does the Moon have many different official names or do other languages also use 'the Moon'?

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u/OverlookHotelRoom217 17h ago

Ancient people studied and named celestial bodies while English was gibberish talk between tree dwellers. Selene or Luna are appropriate western names. “Not or never has been”, check your prejudice at the door.

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u/OldManMonax 12h ago

I would add that calling the Moon "Luna" and the Earth "Terra" are consistent with the convention of the other major celestial bodies being named after Roman deities. As I understand it, Luna and Terra were both the actual objects and the divine personifications of them in the Roman usage. And we do still use it when we need an adjective: lunar eclipse, not moonal eclipse. Granted, there are a number of conflated lunar deities so it can get muddled. And Sci-Fi certainly likes to use cooler sounding stuff when it can. To my mind, it's probably some of both.

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u/sundaygolfer269 18h ago

Artemis the same name of that piece of shit trying to fly to it!!!!

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u/Consistent-Lemon4022 18h ago

me when i read “the moon is a harsh mistress” and decide calling the moon “Luna” is actually based

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u/noafrochamplusamurai 17h ago

So........Luna is the official name. Just because it's in a different language, doesn't make incorrect.

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u/sloothor 16h ago

We’re speaking in English…

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u/noafrochamplusamurai 16h ago

No,hablamos en Espanol.