Not only the Romans call the Moon Luna. Luna is the official name. "Choosing" a more poetic name for the moon would be like choosing a more poetic name for the earth.
Luna is Luna in English, German, Greek etc.
Intrepid wrote:Since it is our only moon. People just call it the moon. Just as Earth is the name of our planet but people refer to it as the earth. Referring to the stars as just stars saves us from memorizing untold billions of star names that we probably couldn't pronounce anyhow. :-)
Something about the choice of words still seems inconsistant. For example, most people say, "The Moon". But they don't say "The Planet" when referring to the Earth. And they say "The Earth", but they don't say, "The Luna".
To be consistant, they should say, The Moon and The Planet, or The Luna and The Earth, or just Luna and Earth.
rosborne979 wrote:Intrepid wrote:Since it is our only moon. People just call it the moon. Just as Earth is the name of our planet but people refer to it as the earth. Referring to the stars as just stars saves us from memorizing untold billions of star names that we probably couldn't pronounce anyhow. :-)
Something about the choice of words still seems inconsistant. For example, most people say, "The Moon". But they don't say "The Planet" when referring to the Earth. And they say "The Earth", but they don't say, "The Luna".
To be consistant, they should say, The Moon and The Planet, or The Luna and The Earth, or just Luna and Earth.
Sure they say "The Planet" ie "I have the greatest car on the planet"
Moon is a generic name while Luna is a proper name. We would refer to Bob as Bob...not The Bob
Also, Earth is the name of the planet. Earth is the name of the dirt on the planet. The oceans are not earth. Are we getting confused yet?
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