List of names for the Milky Way
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
This is a list of the names for the Milky Way in various languages. Some of them derive from myths, which can be found at Milky Way (mythology).
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[edit] List of name in various languages
- Armenian: Յարդ զողի Ճանապարհ hard zoghi chanaparh "Straw Thief's Way", from a myth.[1]
- Bulgarian: Млечен Път, "Milky Way", translated from Latin.
- Catalan: Camí de Santiago, "The Road to Santiago".
- Catalan: Via Làctia "Milky Way", translated from Latin.
- Cherokee: Gili Ulisvsdanvyi "The Way the Dog Ran Away", from a myth.
- Chinese: 銀河 "Silvery River".
- Czech: Mléčná dráha "Milky Way" translated from Greek or Latin.
- Danish: Mælkevejen.
- Dutch: Melkweg "Milky Way" translated from latin.
- English: Milky Way, translated from Latin.[2]
- Estonian: Linnutee "Way of Birds", from a myth.
- Finnish: Linnunrata "Way of Birds", from a myth.
- Greek: Γαλαξίας κύκλος Galaxias Kyklos "Milky Circle", from a myth.
- Hindi: akashaganga "Ganges River of Heaven", from a myth.[1]
- Hungarian: Hadak Útja "The Road of the Warriors", from a myth. However this is the historical term, today it is known simply as "Tejút", meaning "Milk Way".
- Indonesian: Bima Sakti "Magical Bima", a character in Sanskrit epic Mahabharata
- Italian: Via Lattea "Milky Way", translated from Latin.
- Japanese: 銀河 ginga "Silvery River", from Chinese, or amanogawa "River of Heaven"
- Korean: eunha "Silvery River", from Chinese.
- Latin: Via Lactea "Milky Way", translated from Greek.
- Lithuanian: Paukščių Takas, The Birds' Path
- Latvian: Putnu Ceļš, The Birds' Path
- Malay: Bima Sakti "Magical Bima", a character in Sanskrit epic Mahabharata
- Norwegian: Mjølkevegen "The milky way"
- Norwegian: Vinterbrauta "Big Winter" (Nynorsk)
- Portuguese: Estrada de Santiago, "The Road to Santiago" (used in European Portuguese only)
- Polish: Droga Mleczna "Milky Way", translated from English.vv
- Portuguese: Via Láctea "Milky Way", translated from Latin.
- Russian: Млечный путь "Milky Way", translated from Latin.
- Slovenian: Mlečna cesta "Milky Way", translated from Greek or Latin.
- Slovenian: Rimska cesta "The Roman Road", because pilgrims followed it when traveling to Rome.
- Spanish: Camino de Santiago "The Road to Santiago".
- Spanish: Via láctea "Milky Way", translated from Latin.
- Swedish: Vintergatan "Winter Street", because it is more visible during the winter in Scandinavia and looks like a snowy street.
- Welsh: Llwybr Llaethog "Milky Way", translated from the Latin.
- Welsh: Caer Arianrhod "The Fort of Arianrhod" (Arianrhod).
- Welsh: Caer Wydion "The Fort of Gwydion" (Gwydion).
[edit] Common names
[edit] Birds' Path
The name "Birds' Path" is used in several Uralic and Turkic languages and in the Baltic languages.
[edit] Milky Way
Many European languages have borrowed, directly or indirectly, the Greek name for the Milky Way, including English, Latin and the Romance languages.
[edit] Road to Santiago
The Milky Way was traditionally used as a guide by pilgrims traveling to the holy site at Compostela, hence the use of "The Road to Santiago" as a name for the Milky Way.[2] Curiously, La Voje Ladee "The Milky Way" was also used to refer to the pilgrimage road.[3]
[edit] Silvery River
The Chinese name "Silvery River" is used throughout East Asia, including Korea and Japan.
[edit] Straw Way
In a large area from Central Asia to Africa, the name for the Milky Way is related to the word for straw. It has been claimed that this was spread by Arabs who in turned borrowed the word from Armenian.[4]
[edit] References
- ^ a b Toivanen, Sampsa; Sipilä, Heikki. What is the Milky Way called in different languages?. Retrieved on January 6, 2007.
- ^ a b Macleod, Fiona (1911). Where the forest murmurs. New York: Duffield & Company.
- ^ The Pilgrim's Way: El Camino de Santiago. Retrieved on January 6, 2007.
- ^ Harutyunyan, Hayk (2003-08-29). "The Armenian name of the Milky Way". ArAS News 6. Retrieved on 2007-01-05.
