2006-09-01 04:41:27 · 14 answers · asked by ameralon 2 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Astronomy & Space
In English, the Moon and the Sun do not have proper names. That's because when our language was forming (and all the way up until 1610) we only knew of one moon, Earth's Moon. There weren't any others, so no one felt the need to give it a specific name, at least no English speakers did. And once it was discovered that other planets had moons, no one went back to name ours.
Other languages do have a name for the Moon. Luna is one of those (note, Luna is not the *English* name for our Moon).
2006-09-01 07:22:04 · answer #1 · answered by kris 6 · 0⤊ 1⤋
Some really illogical and ill-informed answers here. The moon was called "Luna," "Selene," and "Parat" long before the English language existed.
All of those are proper names, derived from mythology, just as are the traditional Latin names of the planets and their satellites. The English word Moon comes from the Greek "Mene" meaning "month," referring to the reliability of the moon as a marker of monthly cycles.
2006-09-01 17:54:46 · answer #2 · answered by aviophage 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The moon She's Luna, or selene and maybe cynthia but technically you are correct. Because Luna is latin for moon and selene is greek for moon and so on.
She circles around us like no other satelite moon around no other planet. Luna rocks earths tides bady. Besides it's THE Moon. Too famous to be pinned down with some silly name. Like Prince or the artist formerly known as.
2006-09-01 04:48:50 · answer #3 · answered by Attacus 2 · 0⤊ 1⤋
Because other planets are named for Greco-Roman Mythology their satelites were given names refering to famliy members of the various gods/goddesses the planets were named after. While the moon is sometimes refered to as Luna, in Greco-Roman Mythology it was the abode of Artemis/Diana and the sun, while sometimes called Sol, was the abode of Apollo the sun god. In early Greek mythology there was a sun god name Helio which is where we get the term helium.
2006-09-01 06:16:13 · answer #4 · answered by West Coast Nomad 4 · 0⤊ 1⤋
For the same reason stars out there have name and our Sun is simply "Sun".
It's not that other moons have names, but we started calling them moons in comparison to our Own, so we can relate and know what in the world you're talking about :-)
2006-09-01 04:45:49 · answer #5 · answered by Marcelo 1 · 2⤊ 1⤋
Because it's the best-known and most obvious moon. When spelled correctly, the Moon's name is capitalized. Although technically, its REAL name is actually Luna.
2006-09-01 04:43:18 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
The Moon in the name of Earth's natural satalite. The natural satalites of other planets are given other names because if they all had the same name that would be confusing.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natural_satellites
2006-09-01 07:31:06 · answer #7 · answered by iMi 4 · 0⤊ 1⤋
Planets' moons are not called by names, their satellites are called by the names, like Callisto, Europa, Io etc.
The name of Earth's satellite is Moon.
2006-09-01 04:47:03 · answer #8 · answered by know it all 3 · 0⤊ 1⤋
My favorite sci-fi author, Robert Heinlein had a problem with this too. So he called the moon Luna and the sun Sol. Much prettier.
2006-09-01 04:50:41 · answer #9 · answered by wayfaroutthere 7 · 0⤊ 1⤋
The name of the moon is "Luna". The name of the earth is "Terra" and the name of the sun is "Sol".
2006-09-01 06:07:50 · answer #10 · answered by sparc77 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋