The idea for this new series for BloggusClassicus came as I was exploring the planets and dwarf planets with my space mad four-year-old. I was intrigued by the fact that many of the moons in our solar system are named after mythological figures, and ones connected to the mythological namesake of the planet they orbit (for example, Jupiter and Europa, as we shall see in a later article). So, in this series, I seek to illuminate the mythological stories that connect the names given to the planets and their natural satellites. We begin with earth’s moon.
Legends of the Moons I
Luna/Máni
Monday literally means the ‘Day of the Moon’ or ‘Moon Day’, coming ultimately from the Norse Mánadagr (Máni’s Day) via German Montag. The Italian ‘lunedi’ comes from Lunae Dies, the Latin for ‘Day of the Moon' (hence English words such as 'lunar' and also 'lunatic'). So, the two different names have the same meaning. Both Luna and Máni were divine embodiments of the Moon for the Romans and Vikings, respectively, and were the complement deities of the sun in both cultures (Sol, male god of the sun, for the Romans, Sól, female goddess of the sun, for the Vikings, also known as Sunna). However, Luna was female, Máni was male. Both names come from an ancient past.
Luna
Luna: Baths of Diocletian, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
Luna was perceived both as a goddess in her own right, but could also be identified with Diana, who was also associated with the moon. She is invoked by Horace in his magnificent Carmen Saeculare, he asks the goddess to hear the prayers of the girls performing his great celebratory poem.
A famous myth associated with Luna was the myth of Endymion (originally Greek, the Greek name for the moon being Selene). He is either a shepherd or the kind of Elis depending on the version of the myth, with whom Luna/Selene became enamoured. She loved watching him sleep in her pale, silvery light and asked Zeus to make him always seem this way. The king of the gods, angered because Endymion was attracted to Hera, granted the Moon’s wish. He put Endymion to endless sleep. In Rome, Luna enjoyed two temples one on the Palatine Hill, the other on the Aventine.
Máni
Máni was the god who guided the moon’s path and he is described in the Prose Edda (a 13th century collection of tales from Viking mythology).He is the sister of the sun goddess Sól (comparable to Apollo and Diana, although, Apollo was sun god and the Artemis the moon goddess). When Máni and Sól’s father Mundilfari named them ‘Moon’ and ‘Sun’, the gods deemed this a show of arrogance, so sentenced them to permanently remaining in the heavens, controlling and guiding their respective celestial bodies. Norse gods are often depicted as more vulnerable than the immortal Greek and Roman deities. In the legend of his visit to the giants, Thor cannot defeat the Spirit of Old Age, as the old woman who appears floors him. Máni, according to prophecy, was destined to be consumed by wolves that would chase him and his sister, as the events of Ragnarök (Doom/Twilight of the gods) unfolded.
John Charles Dollman, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons: ‘Máni and Sól pursued by wolves.’
So, one day of the week, one meaning, but two names, two traditions, and two very different deities.
Sources
'Luna', Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luna_(goddess)
Luna the Moon Goddess: 'Study.com': https://study.com/academy/lesson/luna-roman-goddess-moon-history-mythology.html#:~:text=Luna%20is%20a%20Roman%20goddess,to%20the%20sun%20god%2C%20Sol.
Luna: Roman Gods and Goddesses. https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/Roman_Gods_Goddesses/hYT4AwAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=0
'Máni', Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M%C3%A1ni#:~:text=M%C3%A1ni%20(Old%20Norse%3A%20%5B%CB%88m%C9%91%CB%90ne,Moon%20personified%20in%20Germanic%20mythology.
Máni: Guerber, H. A., (1992) 'Mani and Sol', Myths of the Norsemen: 7-8.
Máni: McCoy, D., (2016) The Viking Spirit: An Introduction to Norse Mythology and Religion (CreateSpace)
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