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Re: Benetnasch and Alkaid revisited
From: Zvi Doron
Date: 2005 Apr 9, 09:30 +0100
From: Zvi Doron
Date: 2005 Apr 9, 09:30 +0100
I read somewhere that 'Betelgaux' comes from 'Ibt al Gausa' which in Arabic
means 'The Shulder of the Giant'
----- Original Message -----From: Frank RSent: 08 April 2005 23:38Subject: Re: Benetnasch and Alkaid revisitedPeter wrote:"Why do we have so many stars with Arabic names?"In part, I think it's because so few Europeans and European descendants have spoken Arabic historically. Part of the thing that makes a "proper name" sound "proper" is its obscurity. If you had to look up in the sky and say "that star is called 'The Knee'", it wouldn't seem like a proper name. But "Rigel"... that sounds mysterious and foreign and it feels like a proper name --only because it's untranslated (and corrupted) Arabic.-FER
42.0N 87.7W, or 41.4N 72.1W.
www.HistoricalAtlas.com/lunars
