Name of Mars

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In English, the planet Mars is named after Mars, the Roman god of war,[1] an association made because of its red color, which suggests blood.[2] The adjectival form of Latin Mars is Martius,[3] from which the English word Martian derives, used as an adjective or for a putative inhabitant of Mars, and Martial, used as an adjective corresponding to Terrestrial for Earth.[4] In Greek, the planet is known as Ἄρης Arēs, with the inflectional stem Ἄρろーεいぷしろん- Are-.[5] That is because of the Greek equivalent to Mars is Ares. From this come technical terms such as areology, as well as the (rare) adjective Arean[6] and the star name Antares.

Mars is also the basis of the name of the month of March (from Latin Martius mēnsis 'month of Mars'),[7] as well as of Tuesday (Latin dies Martis 'day of Mars'), where the old Anglo-Saxon god Tíw was identified as the Anglo-Saxon equivalent to Mars by Interpretatio germanica.[8]

Due to the global influence of European languages in astronomy, a word like Mars or Marte for the planet is common around the world, though it may be used alongside older, native words. A number of other languages have provided words with international usage. For example:

  • Arabic مريخ mirrīkh – which connotes fire – is used as the (or a) name for the planet in Persian, Urdu, Malay and Swahili,[9] among others
  • Chinese 火星かせい [Mandarin Huǒxīng] 'fire star' (in Chinese the five classical planets are identified with the five elements) is used in Korean, Japanese and Vietnamese.[10]
  • India uses the Sanskrit term Mangal derived from the Hindu goddess Mangala.[11]
  • A long-standing nickname for Mars is the "Red Planet". That is also the planet's name in Hebrew, מאדים ma'adim, which is derived from אדום adom, meaning 'red'.[12]
  • The archaic Latin form Māvors (/ˈmeɪvɔːrz/) is seen, but only very rarely, in English, though the adjectives Mavortial and Mavortian mean 'martial' in the military rather than planetary sense.[13]

References[edit]

  1. ^ "Mars". Oxford English Dictionary (Online ed.). Oxford University Press. (Subscription or participating institution membership required.)
  2. ^ "Planetary Names: Planet and Satellite Names and Discoverers". planetarynames.wr.usgs.gov.
  3. ^ Mars. Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short. A Latin Dictionary on Perseus Project.
  4. ^ "martial". Oxford English Dictionary (Online ed.). Oxford University Press. (Subscription or participating institution membership required.)
  5. ^ Ἄρης. Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; A Greek–English Lexicon at the Perseus Project
  6. ^ E.g. in Pickering (1921) Mars.
  7. ^ "The Julian Calendar". Encyclopaedia Romana. Retrieved 19 February 2021.
  8. ^ "Tuesday (n.)". Online Etymology Dictionary. Retrieved 19 February 2021.
  9. ^ The dictionary definition of المريخ at Wiktionary
  10. ^ The dictionary definition of 火星かせい at Wiktionary
  11. ^ Dalal, Roshen (2010). Hinduism: An alphabetical guide. Penguin Books India. p. 240. ISBN 978-0-14-341421-6.
  12. ^ The dictionary definition of מאדים at Wiktionary
  13. ^ "Mavors, Mavortial, Mavortian". Oxford English Dictionary (Online ed.). Oxford University Press. (Subscription or participating institution membership required.)
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