Science > Linguistics

The name for Mars in Hebrew

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transientP:
i just read Shijing's post about the Cassiopaeans' names for planets in our solar system,
Shijing; i want to convey that it is one of the most interesting posts i've ever read !  :)

one of my own observations about a planet's name comes from hebrew, and i'm certain others have noticed this before:

in hebrew the name for Mars is "Ma'adim".
which literally translates into: "Turning red" and is a Male word.
so the word is actually both a verb and a noun, or rather: a noun (name for an object) that is derived from an ongoing action;
a verb in Present-Progressive form.

it seems that whomever gave the planet its name, must have known it to have "turned red" or observed it "turning red" from its former, different color. the name actually implies that it is constantly turning red. how much more red can it get ??
 :)

of course this name fits in with many theories raised as to the interactions that had occurred between Mars and other planets in this solar system. (I shy away from calling it "our" solar system, because that would imply it belongs to someone)   :)

any thoughts on this anyone ?

Shijing:

--- Quote from: transientP on November 24, 2011, 02:25:55 PM ---one of my own observations about a planet's name comes from hebrew, and i'm certain others have noticed this before:

in hebrew the name for Mars is "Ma'adim".
which literally translates into: "Turning red" and is a Male word.
so the word is actually both a verb and a noun, or rather: a noun (name for an object) that is derived from an ongoing action;
a verb in Present-Progressive form.

--- End quote ---

That's interesting -- do you happen to know what the root of the word is? I'm asking partly because of the various names that have been associated with Mars (or other planets) like 'Martek', 'Marduk', etc. It may or may not be connected.


--- Quote from: transientP on November 24, 2011, 02:25:55 PM ---it seems that whomever gave the planet its name, must have known it to have "turned red" or observed it "turning red" from its former, different color. the name actually implies that it is constantly turning red. how much more red can it get ??
 :)

of course this name fits in with many theories raised as to the interactions that had occurred between Mars and other planets in this solar system. (I shy away from calling it "our" solar system, because that would imply it belongs to someone)   :)

--- End quote ---

It would be interesting to know what the name for Mars was in related languages, which might give a clue as to how old the Hebrew name actually is. If Mars had it's atmosphere and a large part of its oceans stripped away at some point due to interactions with the other inner planets and/or comets, that would almost certainly result in a change in color as perceived from Earth (Life and Death on Mars by John Brandenburg discusses evidence for this as well as earlier life on Mars  -- it's less sensationalist and more scientific than the title and cover artwork would lead you to believe).

transientP:
Hey there Shijing

well.. the root for  “Ma'Adim“ would be Adom which means Red. the interesting thing is, the second part of Ma'Adim is Adim which in hebrew means vapor. another interesting thing is.. the root for Adom is ADM which is the same word for Man in hebrew.
and this is also a well known fact; nowadays Man is either referred to as Adam which literally means Non-Blood, or as Ben-Adam which literally means; Son-of-Non-Blood.
I've always thought that this Non-Blood deal was supposed to convey a peaceful message, sort of like saying; hey, don't be violent.

anyhow, the name given to Mars seems to be packed with info.

after reading your post about the Cassiopaean planet names, i thought about the rest of the planet names in hebrew.
when observing the the list that the Cassiopaeans give, the planets only have native names in hebrew up to Uranus, excluding it.
so it seems either the other planets were not known, or their names were forgotten.

Endymion:

--- Quote from: transientP --- in hebrew the name for Mars is "Ma'adim".
which literally translates into: "Turning red" and is a Male word.
[...] it seems that whomever gave the planet its name, must have known it to have "turned red" or observed it "turning red" from its former, different color. the name actually implies that it is constantly turning red. how much more red can it get ??
--- End quote ---

In ancient times, a rain of blood – or at least some red substance – was associated with various celestial phenomena. In certain parts of the Middle East it was said that the rivers turned to blood, a phenomenon associated with the close approach of a heavenly body. This would give a different angle on the phrase, ‘turning red’. This same phenomenon occurred recently in Kerala, from July 25 to September 23, 2001. You can read about it on Wikipedia: _http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_rain_in_Kerala


--- Quote from: transient --- well.. the root for  “Ma'Adim“ would be Adom which means Red. the interesting thing is, the second part of Ma'Adim is Adim which in hebrew means vapor. another interesting thing is.. the root for Adom is ADM which is the same word for Man in hebrew.
and this is also a well known fact; nowadays Man is either referred to as Adam which literally means Non-Blood, or as Ben-Adam which literally means; Son-of-Non-Blood.
--- End quote ---


Very interesting considering the association of red rain with cosmic phenomena. Ma’adim could be taken to mean ‘red vapour’.

transientP:
Endymion,

thanks for the reply, i'm going to check out that wiki link after this post.  :)

by the way, what inspired your nickname here; ”Endymion” ?

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