How to say “moon” in different European languages

Posted by vladgrinch

47 Comments

  1. FENGARI -> it could be pronounced like that in Greek, but it can’t be written like that neither in Greek nor in transliterations, the word is FEGARI (Φεγγάρι).
    The technical term/official word is Σελήνη (Selene).

  2. In Lithuanian you could also say Mėnuo or Mėnesis (both also mean month) but Mėnulis is the prefered one.

  3. I just love this English-Dutch silliness

    moon –> maan
    eel –> aal

    Things like this

  4. Der Mond, is masc. (die Sonne fem.), la Lune is fem. le soleil masc.

    There’s also a gender gap!

  5. DysphoricGirlAylin on

    Türk here. We say “Ay” To mean moon but also to express minor pain the same way you use “ouch”

    My name is Aylin which translates to “child of the moon” Or “moon halo”. It’s a really cool and old traditional girls name because Turkic mythology associates women with moon. Famously, it’s stated that women are spiritually calibrated with the moon spirit through moon-cycle (menstruation) in Turkic culture. Now, I do not menstruate, but I do hope that the moon spirit still accepts me or something I don’t know tengri help me.

    There are multiple girls names that have ay in it. “Seray” is the name of one of my friends and she is pretty cool. “Ayben” Is an uncommon one and also the name of a rapper. The moon is a poweful symbolism in Turkish culture. Similarly, water is also a symbolism that exist and there are a lot of names that have “su” In it. Water also symbolizes motherhood because the womb has water in it

  6. Odd_Bodybuilder_4772 on

    In Croatian, mjesec also means a calendar month. ( Same goes for all BCSM languages).

  7. Fun fact in Croatian at the very least Mjesec also means Month not sure about the other ex Yu languages.

  8. Responsible-Care-388 on

    Norwegians/Swedes be like “Yeah my favorite rapper is Gucci Moon how could you tell?”

  9. Manx is *eayst*, cognate with Irish *éasca* (from *éscae* in Old Irish, itself derived from **eiskyom* in Proto-Celtic. Matasović further posits a derivation from Proto-Indo-European **h₁eysk-* (“to shine, glitter”) but this derivation is as yet uncertain) which also means moon. Manx does have *giallagh*, but this is extremely rare. It is thought that Middle Irish *gelach* died out in Manx before it was re-introduced as *giallagh*, but that has failed to gain much currency in the language.

  10. Welsh has three ‘moon’ words: *lleuad* which is simply the basic word for ‘moon’; and *Llun* borrowed from Latin Luna as a name for the Moon, used in the Welsh name for Monday: *Dydd Llun*, though the Moon is now almost always y Lleuad. There is also *lloer* which is an archaic literary word for the Moon and is also used for moons/satellites of other planets.

  11. Russian knows Miesyac, but nowayday its used for month only. Rarely for notfull moon, sicle.

  12. Just and FYI: the letter å in Norwegian is pronounced similar to the long O in English. The e at the end is pronounced. It is a 2 syllable word.

    Moe ne. It is also usually used with ‘the’, which is attached to the end of the word. En måne (one moon) turns into månen, or, The Moon. It is pronounced Mone-en.

  13. avalunawhisper on

    i’ve always had a weird thing with the word “luna”… i remember picking it as a username years ago without even knowing why, it just felt right somehow. seeing it pop up in so many places makes me feel like i accidentally chose something way more meaningful than i realized 😭