Skip to main content
History

Timeline for Who first called natural satellites "moons"?

Current License: CC BY-SA 4.0

26 events
when toggle format what by license comment
Dec 4, 2020 at 0:51 history edited LаngLаngС CC BY-SA 4.0
added 39 characters in body
Dec 4, 2020 at 0:38 history edited LаngLаngС CC BY-SA 4.0
added 2058 characters in body
Dec 3, 2020 at 22:46 comment added Rob Late 14th century, or more strictly ~20 years earlier than 1610, with the humorous euphemism coming to light over 150 years later.
Dec 3, 2020 at 17:29 comment added LаngLаngС @T.E.D. Thx to your insistence, I just realised that I initially misread one character, and that even my subsequent OCR did as well! The error travelled from there… On closer inspection it is the less ambiguous 'Medic-e-os Jovi* °
Dec 3, 2020 at 17:26 history edited LаngLаngС CC BY-SA 4.0
deleted 56 characters in body
Dec 3, 2020 at 15:43 history edited LаngLаngС CC BY-SA 4.0
added 86 characters in body
Dec 3, 2020 at 15:37 history edited LаngLаngС CC BY-SA 4.0
added 86 characters in body
Dec 3, 2020 at 15:29 history edited LаngLаngС CC BY-SA 4.0
added 139 characters in body
Dec 3, 2020 at 15:17 history edited LаngLаngС CC BY-SA 4.0
added 153 characters in body
Dec 3, 2020 at 15:09 comment added LаngLаngС @T.E.D. My translation choice. Jove's 'planets' were originally dedicated to powerful princes, like here the Medici (family name derived from 'doctors'). In his tract he compares the oldre Juoiter moons with Saturn's new on.
Dec 3, 2020 at 14:50 comment added T.E.D.♦ "Medical Planet" is an interesting one. Why, er ... on Earth ... would it have been called that? (FWIW, it seems like "Medicos Jovi" would be more like "Doctor of Jupiter", which is even weirder if Saturn was being talked about)
Dec 3, 2020 at 14:16 comment added IMSoP For those of us not blessed with a Classical Education, could you or someone provide an English translation of that first quoted paragraph?
Dec 2, 2020 at 21:14 vote accept Juhasz
Dec 2, 2020 at 19:30 history edited LаngLаngС CC BY-SA 4.0
added 305 characters in body
Dec 2, 2020 at 18:46 history edited LаngLаngС CC BY-SA 4.0
added 3010 characters in body
Dec 2, 2020 at 15:53 history edited LаngLаngС CC BY-SA 4.0
added 96 characters in body
Dec 2, 2020 at 15:46 history edited LаngLаngС CC BY-SA 4.0
added 96 characters in body
Dec 2, 2020 at 15:28 history edited LаngLаngС CC BY-SA 4.0
added 1065 characters in body
Dec 2, 2020 at 15:03 history edited LаngLаngС CC BY-SA 4.0
added 155 characters in body
Dec 2, 2020 at 14:59 comment added LаngLаngС @PieterGeerkens Small correction: Note that Huygens himself dates the pamphlet to March 5 1656, then writes in the Latin text about his discovery on March 25, 165_5!_ (correction to the preceding comment). He calls 'it' and similar objects variously a star, a satellite, planet, 'medical planet', companions, followers, […] then all of a sudden just settles on calling it "Saturn's moon". The concept being clearly out there, although his explanation for why this is a fitting description followed a little later.
Dec 2, 2020 at 14:44 comment added LаngLаngС @PieterGeerkens Yeah, those dates are confusing. What is certain ist that he saw the object in March 1656, then rushed to publish a pamphlet with this but the real discovery hidden behind an anagram (aaaccc…). The full-blown Systema Satvrnivm then was then in print 1659 indeed. But the pamphlet was certainly in repeated circulation before that.
Dec 2, 2020 at 14:29 history edited LаngLаngС CC BY-SA 4.0
added 813 characters in body
Dec 2, 2020 at 12:15 history edited LаngLаngС CC BY-SA 4.0
added 4 characters in body
Dec 2, 2020 at 12:09 history edited LаngLаngС CC BY-SA 4.0
added 4 characters in body
Dec 2, 2020 at 12:07 comment added Pieter Geerkens Great find. I was wondering if someone would track this down while I slept. Is the date quite correct though? The volume states it was written and published in 1659, not 1656 here and here.
Dec 2, 2020 at 12:02 history answered LаngLаngС CC BY-SA 4.0
toggle format