Name of Mars

In English, the planet Mars is named after Mars, the Roman god of war, ^[1] an association made because of its red color, which suggests blood. ^[2] The adjectival form of Latin Mars is Martius, ^[3] from which the English word Martian derives, used as an adjective or for a putative inhabitant of Mars, and Martial, used as an adjective corresponding to Terrestrial for Earth. ^[4] In Greek, the planet is known as ἌρηςArēs, with the inflectional stem Ἄρε-Are-. ^[5] That is because of the Greek equivalent to Mars is Ares. From this come technical terms such as areology , as well as the (rare) adjective Arean ^[6] and the star name Antares .

Mars is also the basis of the name of the month of March (from Latin Martius mēnsis 'month of Mars'), ^[7] as well as of Tuesday (Latin dies Martis 'day of Mars'), where the old Anglo-Saxon god Tíw was identified as the Anglo-Saxon equivalent to Mars by Interpretatio germanica. ^[8]

Due to the global influence of European languages in astronomy, a word like Mars or Marte for the planet is common around the world, though it may be used alongside older, native words. A number of other languages have provided words with international usage. For example:

• Arabic مريخ ايبmirrīkh – which connotes fire – is used as the (or a) name for the planet in Persian, Urdu, Malay and Swahili, ^[9] among others
• Chinese 火星 [Mandarin Huǒxīng] 'fire star' (in Chinese the five classical planets are identified with the five elements) is used in Korean, Japanese and Vietnamese. ^[10]
• India uses the Sanskrit term Mangal derived from the Hindu goddess Mangala. ^[11]
• A long-standing nickname for Mars is the "Red Planet". That is also the planet's name in Hebrew, מאדיםma'adim, which is derived from אדוםadom, meaning 'red'. ^[12]
• The archaic Latin form Māvors ( /ˈmeɪvɔːrz/ ) is seen, but only very rarely, in English, though the adjectives Mavortial and Mavortian mean 'martial' in the military rather than planetary sense. ^[13]

References

1. "Mars" . Oxford English Dictionary (Online ed.). Oxford University Press.(Subscription or participating institution membership required.)
2. "Planetary Names: Planet and Satellite Names and Discoverers". planetarynames.wr.usgs.gov.
3. Mars . Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short. A Latin Dictionary on Perseus Project .
4. "martial" . Oxford English Dictionary (Online ed.). Oxford University Press.(Subscription or participating institution membership required.)
5. Ἄρης . Liddell, Henry George ; Scott, Robert ; A Greek–English Lexicon at the Perseus Project
6. E.g. in Pickering (1921) Mars.
7. "The Julian Calendar". Encyclopaedia Romana. Retrieved 19 February 2021.
8. "Tuesday (n.)". Online Etymology Dictionary . Retrieved 19 February 2021.
9. The dictionary definition of مريخ ايب at Wiktionary
10. The dictionary definition of 火星 at Wiktionary
11. Dalal, Roshen (2010). Hinduism: An alphabetical guide. Penguin Books India. p. 240. ISBN   978-0-14-341421-6.
12. The dictionary definition of מאדים at Wiktionary
13. "Mavors, Mavortial, Mavortian" . Oxford English Dictionary (Online ed.). Oxford University Press.(Subscription or participating institution membership required.)