How the Milky Way Got Its Name
Have you ever wondered why our galaxy is called the Milky Way and what it’s called in other
languages?
Well, wonder no more.
Like many words we use today, the English name of our galaxy is derived from its Latin
name: Via Lactea.
Translated, that means “the road of milk.”
The Romans actually got the name from the Greeks, who called our galaxy “galaxias
kyklos” or “milky circle.”
Incidentally, the Greek name is also where we get the term “galaxy.”
No one knows exactly who came up with the name, but it isn’t difficult to see how
the name came about.
From Earth, at least if you’re well outside the boundaries of city lights, our galaxy
looks something like a band of milky light over a black background, as we are viewing
it on its side and the billions of distant stars in our galaxy create a nice visible
band of light.
As for why the ancient Greeks called it the “milky circle,” the myth goes that Zeus
brought Heracles to Hera to suckle when she was sleeping.
Hera was in conflict with the little infant, as you would be if your husband brought home
a half-mortal child that wasn’t yours.
As baby Heracles was having his meal, Hera woke up suddenly and pushed him away, resulting
in a few drops of spilt milk.
The drops created the galaxy that is now known as the Milky Way.
Various other languages have translations of “Milky Way” as the name of the galaxy,
such as the German “Milchstrasse” and the Norwegian “Melkeveien.”
There are, however, many other mythological origin stories that explain the various alternate
names of the Milky Way in other languages.
In Finland, the Milky Way is called “Linnunrata,” or “path of the birds.”
In Finnish Mythology, the world was formed from a waterfowl’s egg bursting.
The sky was the shell of the egg, and the Earth as we know it was flat.
At the edges of the Earth was “Lintukoto,” or the home of the birds.
Lintukoto was a warm region where birds migrated during the winter.
The band of light that the Greeks thought of as milk was, according to the Finns, the
path that the birds took on their way to Lintukoto.
Thus, it’s Linnunrata, “path of the birds.”
Armenia has a different idea about the Milky Way.
There, it’s called hard goghi chanaparh, or “Straw Thief’s Way.”
The story goes that the god Vahagn stole cartloads of straw Barsham, the Assyrian King, and took
it to Armenia during a particularly cold winter.
To get there, he fled across the Heavens and dropped some straw on the way, making the
Milky Way.
Likewise, the Milky Way is called various forms of “straw way” in several other
languages across Central Asia and Africa.
It’s Ça Taxina Taça in Chechen, or “the route of scattered straw;” traditionally
“kumova slama” or “Godfather’s Straw” in Croatian, though Milky Way is also used
now in Croatia; and samanyolu or “road of straw” in Turkish.
It’s likely that Arabs heard the story in Armenia first and spread the name to various
other lands.
In many northern countries, the Milky Way is called the “Winter Way,” such as the
Icelandic “vetrarbrautin,” the alternative Norwegian “vinterbrauta,” and the Swedish
“vintergatan.”
The reason for this is thought to be because, in the Northern Hemisphere, the Milky Way
is more visible during the winter.
In much of East Asia, the galaxy is referred to as, translated, the “Silver River.”
A Chinese legend says that once upon a time, there was a beautiful young maiden named the
Goddess Weaver, the daughter of the Celestial Queen Mother.
One day, a Buffalo Boy was tending his herd when he spied the Goddess Weaver bathing in
a nearby lake.
The two instantly fell in love, and were soon married and produced two children.
But the Celestial Queen Mother grew jealous of their love and stole the Goddess Weaver
away.
When the Buffalo Boy pursued them, the Queen took out a pin and drew a silver river between
them so that they would be separated forever.
That silver river was the Milky Way.
In Japan and Korea “silver river” means galaxies in general, not just the Milky Way.
In Spanish, the Milky Way is called a few different things.
First, via lactea, or the Milky Way.
Camino de Santiago means the “Road of Santiago” or “Road to Santiago,” and was used for
the Milky Way because pilgrims used it to guide them to Santiago de Compostela, a holy
site.
Compostela is the third way to say the name of the galaxy, and this one is perhaps the
most accurate of all the different names.
It literally means “the field of stars.”
Bonus Facts: • A popular festival in Japan is Tanabata,
a star festival.
The festival has its origins in the “Silver River” myth.
On the seventh day of the seventh month each year, the Goddess Weaver and the Buffalo Boy
are allowed to meet for just one day.
The people celebrate with a day off work or school, and they write wishes on pieces of
paper which are then hung from trees.
In some cities, people light lanterns to float in nearby rivers.
It’s likely that the celebration got its start in China some 2000 years ago before
it migrated to Japan, where it really kicked off.
• The Milky Way is thought to contain over 100 billion stars, and could contain up to
400 billion.
It’s about 100,000 light years across.
• Right now you are simultaneously hurtling around the sun at 66,600 mph while sitting
on a rock that is spinning at 1,070 mph.
On top of that, our whole solar system is rocketing through space around the center
of the Milky Way at around 559,234 mph.
On top of that, our galaxy is hurtling through space at around 671,080 mph, with respect
to our local group of galaxies.