Heavenly Bodies

There are two basic kinds of heavenly body: the large, bright ones, sa, the sun and the moon, and the smaller, fainter ones, s̲um, the stars, planets, meteors and so forth. When it is necessary to specify that one is talking about the moon, one refers to the “night sun” by any of several terms: 'ulhd̲z̲is̲ sa, 'eldzin ooza', 'ulhd̲z̲is̲ ooza'.

To make it clear that one is speaking of the full moon, any of the terms for “moon” can be qualified by haimbaz “it is circular”. In a context in which it is clear that one is talking about the moon, the full moon may be designated sacho, literally “big sun”.

Shooting stars, that is to say, meteors, are called s̲um 'untilhts'ut or s̲um tult̲s̲'uk. A meteorite is t̲s̲e dus halt̲s̲'ut “a stone that came from above”.

The morning star, that is, the planet Venus, is ookw'eyulhkaih.

One particular star has a name: the “North Star” s̲umlhis'al.

There are several words for “constellation”: s̲umilhch'eudli, s̲umilhnoo, and s̲umilhch'eudli. Several constellations are named: “Orion” Enidulh, “Ursa Minor” yihdayaz, the “Big Dipper” yihda, and the “Milky Way”, Shas̲tikoh or yak'uts'ilgai.

Essay List