crack for trivia addicts
Oct. 25th, 2005 10:31 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
truepennyRichard Hinckley Allen, Star Names: Their Lore and Meaning. 1899. New York: Dover Publications, 1963.
Deities large and small bless Dover for their reprints.
Richard Hinckley Allen was a pedantic fussbudget of the first water, and is a lovely exemplar of the Key to All Mythologies style of Victorian scholarship. But so far--and I've only gotten through Cetus in the alphabetical listing of constellations--he has gifted me with the following facts or quasi-facts*:
Ulug Bey, the grandson of Tamburlane the Great, was a noted astronomer.
The four great divisions of the sky for the ancient Chinese were Tsing Lung, the Azure Dragon, Heung Woo, the Dark Warrior, Choo Neaou, the Red Phoenix, and Pih Hoo, the White Tiger.
Delta Andromedae was called by Arabian astronomers Al 'Anak al Ard, after a small predatory animal of Arabia, which Mr. Allen tells us is similar to a badger and is more commonly known as Al Barid.
Gamma Aquarii's Arabic name was Al Sa'd al Alibiyah, which Western scholars have translated as the Lucky Star of Hidden Things or Hiding Places, but which really, Mr. Allen says, should be translated Felicity of Tents.
Epsilon, Mu, and Nu Aquarii are the 21st manzil (Arabic lunar mansion), Al Sa'd al Bula', the Good Fortune of the Swallower.
In Old Bohemian, the name of the constellation Boötes is Przyczck.
Stars in Boötes were grouped by the Chinese into Hwa Kae, the State Umbrella, and Yin Tih, Unostentatious Virtue.
Cancer is the Gate of Man, the House of the Moon, and the Horoscope of the World. The Crab Nebula was called by the Chinese Tseih She Ke, Exhalation of Piled-Up Corpses.
The 20th manzil, Alpha1, Alpha2, and Beta Capricornis, was Al Sa'd al Dhabih, the Lucky One of the Slaughterers. (Arabian.)
Mu Capricornis was Kuh, Weeeping, and Nu Capricornis was Loo Sien, the Lace-Like Asterism. (Chinese.)
Alpha and Beta Centauri were known to the South African Bushmen as Two Men that once were Lions.
Gamma Cephei, Errai, will be the Pole Star in A.D. 4500, and Alpha Cephei, Alderamin, will be the Pole Star in A.D. 7500. And midway between Alpha Cephei and Alpha Cygni is the north polar point of Mars.
The constellation we call Cetus may have been known to the cultures of the Euphrates as Tiamat.
Fomalhaut was Al Difdi' al Awwa, the First Frog, and Beta Ceti was Al Difdi' al Thani, the Second Frog. (Arabian.) Beta Ceti was also Too Sze Kung, Superintendant of Earthworks. (Chinese.)
Phi1, Phi2, Phi3, Phi4 Ceti were called by the Chinese Tien Hwan, Heaven's Sewer.
And on that note, I bid you all a very good night.
---
*Having no knowledge even of Western European astronomy, I have no idea whether the things Mr. Allen says are true or not. I love them for their poetry.
Deities large and small bless Dover for their reprints.
Richard Hinckley Allen was a pedantic fussbudget of the first water, and is a lovely exemplar of the Key to All Mythologies style of Victorian scholarship. But so far--and I've only gotten through Cetus in the alphabetical listing of constellations--he has gifted me with the following facts or quasi-facts*:
Ulug Bey, the grandson of Tamburlane the Great, was a noted astronomer.
The four great divisions of the sky for the ancient Chinese were Tsing Lung, the Azure Dragon, Heung Woo, the Dark Warrior, Choo Neaou, the Red Phoenix, and Pih Hoo, the White Tiger.
Delta Andromedae was called by Arabian astronomers Al 'Anak al Ard, after a small predatory animal of Arabia, which Mr. Allen tells us is similar to a badger and is more commonly known as Al Barid.
Gamma Aquarii's Arabic name was Al Sa'd al Alibiyah, which Western scholars have translated as the Lucky Star of Hidden Things or Hiding Places, but which really, Mr. Allen says, should be translated Felicity of Tents.
Epsilon, Mu, and Nu Aquarii are the 21st manzil (Arabic lunar mansion), Al Sa'd al Bula', the Good Fortune of the Swallower.
In Old Bohemian, the name of the constellation Boötes is Przyczck.
Stars in Boötes were grouped by the Chinese into Hwa Kae, the State Umbrella, and Yin Tih, Unostentatious Virtue.
Cancer is the Gate of Man, the House of the Moon, and the Horoscope of the World. The Crab Nebula was called by the Chinese Tseih She Ke, Exhalation of Piled-Up Corpses.
The 20th manzil, Alpha1, Alpha2, and Beta Capricornis, was Al Sa'd al Dhabih, the Lucky One of the Slaughterers. (Arabian.)
Mu Capricornis was Kuh, Weeeping, and Nu Capricornis was Loo Sien, the Lace-Like Asterism. (Chinese.)
Alpha and Beta Centauri were known to the South African Bushmen as Two Men that once were Lions.
Gamma Cephei, Errai, will be the Pole Star in A.D. 4500, and Alpha Cephei, Alderamin, will be the Pole Star in A.D. 7500. And midway between Alpha Cephei and Alpha Cygni is the north polar point of Mars.
The constellation we call Cetus may have been known to the cultures of the Euphrates as Tiamat.
Fomalhaut was Al Difdi' al Awwa, the First Frog, and Beta Ceti was Al Difdi' al Thani, the Second Frog. (Arabian.) Beta Ceti was also Too Sze Kung, Superintendant of Earthworks. (Chinese.)
Phi1, Phi2, Phi3, Phi4 Ceti were called by the Chinese Tien Hwan, Heaven's Sewer.
And on that note, I bid you all a very good night.
---
*Having no knowledge even of Western European astronomy, I have no idea whether the things Mr. Allen says are true or not. I love them for their poetry.
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no subject
Date: 2005-10-26 05:48 am (UTC)seasicksea serpent might be a more recent name for the sea monster Tiamat.no subject
Date: 2005-10-26 07:14 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-10-26 04:22 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-10-26 04:48 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-10-26 08:06 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-10-26 11:38 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-10-26 02:16 pm (UTC)That's wonderful.
no subject
Date: 2005-10-26 02:20 pm (UTC)Sing it, sister.
Star Names is my third favorite Dover reprint in my library. (Second is Mathematics in the Times of the Pharoahs, and first is Pyle's The Wonder Clock.)
---L.
no subject
Date: 2005-10-26 09:28 pm (UTC)De Re Metallica (https://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0486600068/103-7548214-6251050?v=glance).
I'm impressed by their ability to put out these giant books at a very reasonable price. The savings of not paying an author and (probably) offsetting the original editions.
no subject
Date: 2005-11-02 05:46 pm (UTC)But..."...And midway between Alpha Cephei and Alpha Cygni is the north polar point of Mars." Maybe, but for how long? Mars's north pole has a wobble that makes our pole look immobile -- between 18 and 60 degrees, and it happens a lot faster than our polar wobble, too.
Mars actually has a lot of climate change, too...
And there is your sad, nit-picky, inappropriate science trivia for the day.
And apropos to absolutely nothing, did you know that mice sing (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/4395664.stm)? I can't get over that.
(Note to self: get more sleep.)