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Angel From the Latin angelus in the 12th century and Old French angel in the 13th century, 'angel' was adopted from Greek angelos or aggelos which literally meant 'messenger' The religious context comes from the Hebrew mal akh that also means 'messenger' or intermediaries of God. Angel is probably Persian in origin, as the Sumerians described the winged genii and planets that traversed the night sky, as 'wandering stars or messengers.'
Angel definition from Wikipedia
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Archaeology The scientific recovery and interpretation of the material remains of mankind's past. Written records may supplement this process, but its techniques are principally concerned with non-literary evidence for revealing mankind's social and cultural development.
Archaeology definition from Wikipedia
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Archaeoastronomy The study of the relationship between astronomical events and past cultural behavior, including the interpretation of material astronomical remains. It is sometimes called anthropological astronomy and studies the artifacts and lore of early humans in hope of discovering how our ancient ancestors, learned about the heavens of day and night, and how they used them in their everyday lives. Simply stated, Archaeoastronomy attempts to trace the methods and insights behind the astronomical connections to hunting rituals, mythology, religion, philosophy, agriculture and architecture.
Archaeoastronomy definition from Wikipedia
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Astronomy The science that studies the positions, motions, and evolution of heavenly bodies and phenomena beyond Earth. Greek astronomia came to us via Latin and Old French and literally means 'watch the stars.'.The Latin term astrologia was the standard for studying the stars until the Greek astronomia was later introduced. In fact, the terms Astronomy and Astrology were once opposites of what they are today. Originally, astronomy signified 'divination' and astrology signified 'observation'. It wasn't until the 17th century that our current definitions were established.
Astronomy definition from Wikipedia
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Autumnal Equinox The first day of Autumn and the position on the ecliptic occupied by the sun on September 23, when it crosses the celestial equator going from north to south.
Autumnal_Equinox definition from Wikipedia
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Cardinal Direction 1. of the compass: The four principal points, north, south, east and west. 2. of the ecliptic: The vernal and autumnal equinoxes and the summer and winter solstices. The ultimate source of the word cardinal is the Latin cardo 'hinge' and it's meaning is, something on which all else depends.
Cardinal direction definition from Wikipedia
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Celestial Equator The great circle of the celestial sphere, dividing the northern and southern hemispheres, which is located 90 degrees from the poles and is projected onto the celestial sphere directly above the earth's equator.
Celestial Equator definition from Wikipedia
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Celestial Sphere Looking up into the sky, it is the imaginary dome where all stars appear to be fixed. All planets, except earth, appear to travel in front of this backdrop.
Celestial_Sphere definition from Wikipedia
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Comets These minor members of our solar system are thought to consist of lumps of dirt and ice which have existed since the formation of our solar system. The celestial objects number in the millions are believed to reside in the Oort Cloud, which is a spherical region beyond Pluto and is centered around our sun. As comets enter our solar system, the heat of the sun begins to vaporize the icy material and the resulting vapor and dust develops into a long glowing tail that can be hundreds of thousands of miles in length. Comet literally means 'long haired one' and is derived from the Greek kome which meant 'hair' as it was applied metaphorically to the tail of a comet that was seen as streaming out behind as though it was blowing in the wind.
Comet definition from Wikipedia
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Conjunction Where two celestial objects reach the same celestial longitude. The moon is in conjunction with the sun when it passes between the earth and the sun at "new moon." Mercury and Venus show two conjunctions with the sun; Superior conjunction when they pass beyond the sun and change from morning star to evening star. Inferior conjunction when they pass between the earth and the sun, and change from evening star to morning star.
Conjunction definition from Wikipedia
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Constellation A constellation is any one of the 88 areas into which the sky — or the celestial sphere — is divided. The term is also traditionally and less formally used to denote a group of stars visibly related to each other in a particular configuration or pattern. Some well-known constellations contain striking and familiar patterns of bright stars. Examples are Orion (containing a figure of a hunter), Leo (containing bright stars outlining the form of a lion), Scorpius (a scorpion), and Crux (a cross).
Constellation definition from Wikipedia
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Cosmology The science of the origin, evolution, structure and nature of the universe as a whole. It includes astronomy, astrophysics, particle physics and mathematics.
Cosmology definition from Wikipedia
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East Literally, east is the point on the horizon at which the sun rises. It comes from the Indo-European base aus which has a dual meaning of 'east' and 'dawn.' It is also the name of the prehistoric Germanic peoples dawn goddess, Austron, whose festival
occurred in the spring. In Old English she was called Eastre, and is the origin of the English Easter. The Greek word for east is eos.
Eastdefinition from Wikipedia
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Eclipse The obstruction of one celestial body by another. An eclipse of the moon or 'lunar eclipse' occurs when the full moon passes through the shadow of the earth. A solar eclipse occurs when the new moon passes between the earth and the sun, and when the shadow of the moon reaches the earth. From the Greek ekleipsis a derivative of ekleipen 'no longer appear or be present,' the word eclipse comes to us via Old French, Latin and passed into English as ecliptic.
Eclipse definition from Wikipedia
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Equinox The times when the sun crosses the equator. The two which occur each year are the Vernal equinox on March 20th, which is the beginning of spring, when the sun crosses from south to north and the Autumnal equinox on September 22nd, which is the beginning of autumn, when the sun crosses from north to south.The term equinox comes from 14th century Latin aequu s meaning 'equal' and nox meaning 'night' The equinoxes are two days in the year when the night and day are of equal length, and the only two days when the sun rises exactly in the east and sets in the west, when, for people on the equator, the sun is directly overhead at noon.
Equinox definition from Wikipedia
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Friday This day of the week was named for Frigg, wife of the god Odin in Scandinavian mythology. 'Frigg's day' was a direct adaptation of Latin Verenis dies or 'Venus's day,' which in turn was based on Greek Aphrodites hemera or 'Aphrodite's day'.
Friday definition from Wikipedia
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Heaven The origins of this term are lost in antiquity, but the best guess would be Greek kamara 'vault, covering' or 'sky' as abode of the gods. Similar Danish, German, and Swedish himmel and Dutch hemel are also a good candidates. Another source may be Old English heofon and Old Saxon hevan. The scientific community is still working on this one. Dictionaries define it as; 1. A celestial paradise in Christian and Islamic religions that is the abode of God, angels and virtuous souls. 2. A supernatural region inhabited by a deity, deities, or slain heroes. 3. Any area above the earth, such as the firmament or sky. 4. A state of happiness.
Heaven definition from Wikipedia
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Meteor Greek in origin meteor literally means 'something high up,' and denoted 'phenomena in the sky or heavens.' Also known as a shooting star, a meteor is an interplanetary chunk of rock, usually the size of a grain of sand. They travel through the Earth's atmosphere at a high rate of speed and burn up from the friction.
Meteor definition from Wikipedia
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Myth From the Greek muthos ("word" or "speech") a myth is a traditional story, usually focusing on the deeds of gods or heroes, often in explanation of some natural phenomenon, as in the eruption of a volcano or the origin of the Sun. Mythology often involves a cosmogony, which is an attempted explanation of the universe itself, of humankind, or a particular race or culture. It is held that there is an element of historical truth in myths and that mythical characters are often kings and other heroes who have been given the honor of deification (to be made a god). Through anthropology and psychoanalysis many scientists believe that mythology provides and explanation or justification for primitive peoples original social institutions.
Myth definition from Wikipedia
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North It is not known for certain where north came from, but it has been suggested that its origin is nertro, which means 'left' in an extinct language of Italy known as Oscan-Umbrian. The underlying meaning is that north is 'to the left as one faces the rising sun'. Nord in German, Swedish and Danish is 'north' and the Irish 'north' was based on tuaisceart a word meaning left.
North definition from Wikipedia
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Pagan Latin pagus originally meant 'something stuck in the ground as a landmark' and is the source of English peasant. It was then extended metaphorically to 'country area, village' and the noun paganus meaning 'country dweller'. Of course, the church changed the meaning to a 'civilian' (if one was not a soldier of Christ) and then to 'heathen' ( someone who did not live in the city or town as a good Christian).
Pagan definition from Wikipedia
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Sky From the Indo-European base meaning 'cover', came the Anglo-Saxons word for sky, heofon 'heaven', in the 13th century. Eventually heaven was replaced by Old Norse sky 'cloud'.
Sky definition from Wikipedia
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Solstice The times when the sun seems to stand still before appearing to reverse its direction of motion either north or south. This occurs twice a year at the Summer Solstice on June 21st and at the Winter Solstice on December 21st. Literally, solstice means the 'sun standing still.' It comes from Latin solstitium, a compound of sol and stit, and the past participle sistere 'make stand.'
Solstice definition from Wikipedia
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South This word originates from the Prehistoric German suntha, and may have been derived from the base of sunnon or 'sun' - in which case south would literally mean 'region of the sun, side on which the sun appears.' This represents the direction to the right of the observer as the sun at sunrise.
South definition from Wikipedia
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Sunday Probably the most sacred day of the week, Sunday is part of man's system of naming days of the week after heavenly bodies. In the Roman world, Sunday was called dies solis or 'day of the sun.'
Sunday definition from Wikipedia
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Thursday Originally, it was the Romans who called the fourth day of the week dies Iovis
or 'Jupiter's day.' The ancient Germanic peoples adopted the system of naming days of the week after the gods and the planets and in doing so changed sky-gods. Jupiter became Thor, the god of thunder and in doing so, produced thonaras daga or 'Thor's day,' which evolved into Old English thunredaeg.
Thursday definition from Wikipedia
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Tuesday When the ancient Germanic peoples adopted the Roman system of naming the days of the week after sky-gods, they replaced the day which honored the Roman war god Mars 'dies Martis' with 'Tiu's day' for their god of war, Tiu.
Tuesday definition from Wikipedia
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Underworld The place of darkness below the horizon were the celestial gods go. In Greek mythology, the god of the underworld was Hades, "the invisible one." He was the absolute master of his domain and eventually "the land of the dead" was given his name. The word under was traced back to a prehistoric Indo-European ndhero, which meant 'lower.' When the sun, moon, planets, and stars drop below the horizon and into the unknown ,they become invisible to the observer. To our early ancestors they would and then be reborn upon rising over the horizon on the other side.
Underworld definition from Wikipedia
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Vernal Equinox The first day of Spring and the position on the ecliptic occupied by the sun on the 20th of March, when it crosses the celestial equator going from south to north.
Vernal Equinox definition from Wikipedia
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Wednesday The Romans called Wednesday Mercurii dies or 'Mercury's day'. As the Germanic peoples adapted the Roman calendar, they equated Mercury with their own
god Woden or Odin, and translated the Latin term that gave the Dutch woensdag, the
Swedish and Danish onsdag, and the English Wednesday.
Wednesday definition from Wikipedia
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West Descended from the Indo-European wes, west' is literally the direction in which the sun goes 'down.' This also produced the Latin vesper and the Greek hesperos or 'evening' and is related to the Sanskrit avas or 'down.'
West definition from Wikipedia
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Wheel Literally, wheel means something that 'goes round.' Going back to Indo-European qweqwlo or 'go round,' Greek kuklos or 'circle,' Sanskrit carka or 'circle,' prehistoric Germanic khwekhula which evolved to Dutch wiel and English wheel, this symbols' probable true origin is the most ancient of all, 'the wheel in the sky', which is a pole star and its' constellations.
Wheel definition from Wikipedia
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Zodiac Greek in origin, zodiac or 'zoidiakos kuklos' literally means 'circle of little animals' denoting the twelve figures or signs which represents the divisions along the ecliptic which runs around the celestial sphere and which the sun, moon, and planets paths follow in the sky.
Zodiac definition from Wikipedia
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