Why do they call the moon the "moon"?

Question

All the other planets and stars have a cool scientific name! Why can't our moon have a special name?

Answer 1

I think it's simply just the way we as a race are somewhat vain. For instance, we say "the planet" and "the world" when there are other planets and worlds. Also, 'the' simply denotes something specific so "the moon" always means our moon.

Answer 2

It does.

The Earth's moon is called the Moon (with a capital M).

The moons of other planets are called moons (with a lower case "m").

In August of 1971, my good friend Adrianno decided to call the Moon by another name. He named it "Frankie." However, I do not think the name ever was completely accepted by the total of Earth's population. so the entire event was most likely forgotten. Frankie would have been a simply swell name. To bad it didn't stick.

Answer 3

If they didn't call it the moon what would happen to" the man in the moon". Do you want to see the poor guy unemployed? lol
What would happen to all those beautiful songs, movies, and poems written about the moon.
Sail along silvery Moon
Fly me to the Moon
Moon River
Bad Moon Rising

to name a few. Even Wolfman would be out of a job.

Answer 4

It does. It was named "Luna", hence the term "Lunar cycle". But since many people are ignorant and conceitedly arrogant, they don't bother wasting time with factual details. That and since Earth has one moon, and because it's a human moon, it must be the most important one! Heaven forbid it isn't!
Sigh. Next time do your research before wasting my time.
Oh, and in case you were going to get the bright idea of asking about the sun next, I'll save you some time. It is called "Sol", hence the term "Solar System". It is one of many suns out there that we humans with our limited technology cannot reach yet. And yes there are other galaxies out there that in fact do have Earth-like planets and moons and suns.

Answer 5

The moon was named before we knew there were other moons out there, just like the sun

Answer 6

add me mona

Answer 7

According to the Random House unabridged dictionary (2nd edition) the word moon first appears around 900 AD and has the following etymology:

Modern English: month (one month is about one phase of the Moon)
Middle English: mone (moon)
Old English: mona (moon)
Old High German: mano (moon)
Old Norse: mani (moon)
Latin: mensis (month)
Ancient Greek: mene (moon)
Sanskrit: masa (moon, month)

MONTH - Old English. "In ancient times the passing of time was recorded by noting the revolutions of the moon. Consequently prehistoric Indo-European had a single word, 'menes-, which denoted both 'moon' and 'month.' The Romances languages retain it only for 'month': Latin 'mensis' (source of English 'menstrual') has given French 'nois,' Italian 'mese,' and Spanish 'mes.' The Germanic languages, however, have kept both, distinguishing them by different forms. In the case of 'month,' the Germanic word was 'maenoth,' which has differentiated into German 'monat,' Dutch 'maand,' Swedish 'manad,' Danish 'maaned,' and English 'month.'"

Day Names Have Common Etymology in English and Spanish
http://spanish.about.com/od/historyofspanish/a/names_of_days.htm

Answer 8

Humans label things such as the moon so that they can use the verbal or written language to refer to these things in social interaction. These things tend to be commonly understood by other humans. This gives them the ability to communicate and be understood.

Answer 9

moon

Answer 10

they tried Ernie once but it didnt work. "Hey there's a full ernie out tonite."

see what I mean?