List of names for the Milky Way
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).
List of names in various languages
- Arabic: درب التبانة (Darb Al-Tabbāna) "Hay Merchants Way" or درب اللبانة (Darb Al-Labbāna)' "Milky Way"
- Armenian: Յարդ զողի Ճանապարհ hard goghi chanaparh "Straw Thief's Way", from a myth.[1]
- Basque: Esne bidea, from Latin
- Bosnian: Mliječni Put, "Milky Way" translated from Latin
- Bulgarian: Млечен Път, "Milky Way", translated from Latin
- Catalan: Via Làctia "Milky Way", translated from Latin
- Catalan: Camí de Sant Jaume, "The Road to Santiago"
- Chechen: Ça Taxina Taça "the route of scattered straw"
- Cherokee: ᎩᎵ ᎤᎵᏒᏍᏓᏅᏱ Gili Ulisvsdanvyi "The Way the Dog Ran Away", from a myth
- Chinese: 銀河 "Silver River"
- Croatian: Mliječni Put "Milky Way" translated from Latin. Traditionally it was named Kumova slama (Godfather's straw).
- Czech: Mléčná dráha "Milky Way" translated from Greek or Latin
- Danish: Mælkevejen "The Milky Way"
- Dutch: Melkweg "Milky Way" translated from Latin
- English: Milky Way, translated from Latin[2]
- Erzya: Каргонь ки "Way of the Crane"
- Estonian: Linnutee "Way of Birds", from a myth
- Finnish: Linnunrata "Way of Birds", from a myth
- Faroese: Vetrarbreytin "The Winter Way"
- French: La voie lactée "The Milky Way"
- Galician: Via Láctea "Milky Way", translated from Latin
- Galician: Camiño de Santiago, "The Road to Santiago"
- Georgian: ირმის ნახტომი, irmis naxtomi "The Deer Jump"
- German: Milchstraße "Milky Way"
- Greek: Γαλαξίας κύκλος Galaxias Kyklos "Milky Circle", from a myth
- Hebrew: שביל החלב "The Milky Way"
- Hindi: akashaganga "Ganges River of Heaven", from a myth[1]
- Hungarian: Hadak Útja "The Road of the Warriors", from a myth (historical)
- Hungarian: Tejút "Milky Way"
- Icelandic: Vetrarbrautin "The Winter Way"
- Irish: Bealach na Bó Finne "The Fair Cow's Path"
- Irish: Claí Mór na Réaltaí "Great Fence of the Stars"
- Irish: Slabhbra Luigh "Lugh's Chain"
- Indonesian: Bima Sakti "Magical Bima", a character in Sanskrit epic Mahabharata
- Italian: Via Lattea "Milky Way", translated from Latin
- Japanese: 天の川 amanogawa "River of Heaven"
- Korean: 은하 eunha "Silver River", from Chinese, or "미리내"(mirinae) in pure Korean. The Milky Way is specifically called "Uri Eunha" ("Our Galaxy")
- Latin: Via Lactea "Milky Way", translated from Greek
- Latvian: Putnu Ceļš, The Birds' Path
- Lithuanian: Paukščių Takas, The Birds' Path
- Malay: Bima Sakti "Magical Bima", a character in Sanskrit epic Mahabharata
- Maltese: Triq Sant' Anna, "St Anne's way"
- Norwegian: Melkeveien "The milky way" (Bokmål, comes from Danish)
- Norwegian: Vinterbrauta "The Winter Way" (Nynorsk, related to Icelandic)
- Persian: راه شیری
- Polish: Droga Mleczna "Milky Way", translated from Latin
- Portuguese: Via Láctea "Milky Way", translated from Latin, "Estrada de Santiago" "The Road of Santiago" (less common)
- Romanian: Calea Lactee "Milky Way", translated from Latin
- Russian: Млечный путь "Milky Way", translated from Latin
- Sanskrit: मंदाकिनी "Mandakini", "calm or unhurried"
- Serbian: Mlečni put "Milky Way", translated from Latin
- Serbian: Млечни пут "Milky Way", translated from Latin
- Slovak: Mliečna dráha "Milky Way", translated from Latin
- Slovene: Rimska cesta "The Roman Road", because pilgrims followed it when traveling to Rome
- Spanish: Via láctea "Milky Way", translated from Latin
- Spanish: Compostela "Field of Stars", originally from Latin
- Spanish: Camino de Santiago "The Road to Santiago"
- Swedish: Vintergatan "Winter Street"
- Thai: ทางช้างเผือก "The way of the white elephant"
- Turkish: Samanyolu "Road of Straw"
- Ukrainian: Чумацький шлях "Way of Chumak"
- Vietnamese: Ngân Hà "Silver River", translated from Chinese
- Welsh: Llwybr Llaethog "Milky Way", translated from the Latin
- Welsh: Caer Wydion "The Fort of Gwydion" (Gwydion)
Common names
Birds' Path
The name "Birds' Path" is used in several Uralic and Turkic languages and in the Baltic languages.
Milky Way
Many European languages have borrowed, directly or indirectly, the Greek name for the Milky Way, including English and Latin.
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]
Silver River
The Chinese name "Silver River" (銀河) is used throughout East Asia, including Korea and Vietnam. In Japan, "Silver River" (銀河) means galaxies in general.
River of Heaven
The Japanese name for the Milky Way is the "River of Heaven" (天の川), as well as an alternative name in Chinese (Chinese: 天河; pinyin: Tiān hé).
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 suggested that the term was spread by Arabs who in turn borrowed it from Armenia.[4]
References