this post was submitted on 16 Feb 2024
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Today I Learned

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I love that 'moon' is written under 'place.'

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[–] [email protected] 35 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago) (6 children)

We're gonna have to make the Moon's name more specific if we ever survive long enough to colonize other planets. It's like if Earth's name were Planet.

[–] [email protected] 16 points 8 months ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 4 points 8 months ago (1 children)

That's taken. It's the larger of Kerbin's two moons.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 8 months ago

We gotta rename Earth to Kerbin anyways. I mean, there are gotta be more planets that are made from earth.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 8 months ago

Idk if it is necessery, we already named moons like "europe"

[–] [email protected] 5 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago)

"Earth" literally just means "the dirt under your feet".

But most of us don't identify our location so broadly. We say what state or country we're in, and identify culturally that way. I imagine that won't change when there are people living on the Moon. They'll identify by the name of the base or settlement they live in.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 8 months ago (2 children)

There's another name for it already, Selene.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 8 months ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 4 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Luna is Latin for the moon

Selene is Greek for the goddess and personification of the moon

"The Moon" is it's actual name these days but either of those options is a fair pick given their oldness

[–] [email protected] 4 points 8 months ago (2 children)

I mean, yeah, many celestial bodies take their names from Latin. Like how the proper name of the sun is Sol, which matches solar, the lunar object would be called Luna. Selene feels like a retronym to match other Greek deities, and would be like renaming Earth to Gaia

either of those options is a fair pick given their oldness

Luna would definitely rank over Selene in the Western astronomical tradition. As you say, its name is just The Moon, which is what Luna means in many current day Latin derived languages

[–] [email protected] 2 points 8 months ago (1 children)

would be like renaming Earth to Gaia

hell yeah, I'd be on board with that

[–] [email protected] 1 points 8 months ago

Sure, but at that point we could rename it anything.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 8 months ago (1 children)

renaming the Earth, or the Moon

I'd be totally up with renaming out Tierra and Luna to something that is not eurocentric. Would be a nice change of pace against how much of immediate astronomy is caught up in remixes of Greek and Latin.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 8 months ago

It's only Eurocentric in the Western tradition, and even then the names of many stars come from Arabic.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 8 months ago

That might be a good choice!