ADS 2005 Word of the Year

6 January 2006

Each year for the last 15 years the American Dialect Society selects its Word of the Year at its annual meeting. This year the meeting is being held in Albuquerque, New Mexico and the word was selected today. The selection is the word or phrase that the society members feel best reflects the language and preoccupations of the year gone by. The ADS vote is the longest-running “words of the year” vote and the only one conducted by an non-commercial entity.

Word of the Year is interpreted in its broader sense as a vocabulary item—not just words, but phrases, affixes, and combining forms are eligible for consideration as well. The words or phrases do not have to be brand new, but they have to be newly prominent or notable in the past year, in the manner of Time magazine’s Person of the Year. The choice is not made based on any rigorous formula or methodology—although the members’ wide-ranging and deep expertise in the study of words is certainly applied, so it is in no way to be considered official or final. Rather, it represents a snapshot of expert opinion at the time. The deliberations are anything but solemn (sometimes getting rather raucous).

In addition to an overall Word of the Year, words are chosen in a number of categories: Most Useful, Most Creative, Most Unnecessary, Most Outrageous, Most Euphemistic, Most Likely to Succeed, and Least Likely to Succeed. In addition especially for this year a new category was created: Best Tom Cruise Word of the Year. While celebrity-related terms have been considered in the past (such as last year’s "Bennifer"), the sheer number of words inspired by Cruise’s antics prompted the group to create a special category.

The American Dialect Society began choosing Words of the Year in 1990. A full account of the previous choices may be found on the American Dialect

Society’s website, www.americandialect.org. The Society’s success rate at picking words that become permanent additions to the American vocabulary is mixed, as you will see below. This is partly because predicting the success of words is very difficult, but also because the words are chosen because they are emblematic of the year, not simply because the Society believes they will succeed. Y2K in 1999 and chad in 2000 are examples of emblematic terms that few would expect to remain on the scene for long. (An superb explanation of which words are likely to succeed may be found in Predicting New Words: The Secrets of Their Success, by Allan Metcalf, Houghton Mifflin, 2002.)

Words of Previous Years

2004: red/blue/purple states, red favoring conservative Republicans and blue favoring liberal Democrats, as well as the undecided purple states in the political map of the United States.

2003: metrosexual, fashion-conscious heterosexual male.

2002: weapons of mass destruction or WMD, nuclear, biological, and chemical weapons believed to be in Iraq.

2001: 9-11, 9/11 or September 11, terrorist attacks on that date.

2000: chad, a small scrap of paper punched from a voting card on which the presidential election was literally hung.

Word of the Decade (1991-2000): web.

Word of the Twentieth Century: jazz.

Word of the Millennium (1000-2000): she.

1999: Y2K.

1998: prefix e- for “electronic” as in e-mail and newly prominent ecommerce.

1997: millennium bug, also known as Y2K bug or Y2K problem.

1996: mom as in soccer mom, newly significant type of voter.

1995: (tie) World Wide Web on the Internet and newt, to make aggressive changes as a newcomer, after newly elected Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich.

1994: (tie) cyber, pertaining to computers and electronic communicationand morph, to change form.

1993: information superhighway, the internet.

1992: Not! expression of disagreement.

1991: mother of all —, greatest, most impressive after a prediction by Saddam Hussein that he would defeat US armed forces in the "mother of all battles."

1990: bushlips, insincere political rhetoric, after George H.W. Bush’s reneged pledge not to raise taxes.

2005 Nominees and Winners
The nominees for 2005 and the winners in the various categories are as follows.

Most Useful
lifehack: to make one’s day-to-day behaviors or activities more efficient. Also as a noun. Lifehacks apply the make-do, can-do, what-will-it-do attitude that originated in computer hacking.

podcast: a digital feed containing audio or video files for downloading to a portable MP3 player. From the brand name MP3 player iPod + broadcast.

truthiness: the quality of stating concepts or facts one wishes or believes to be true, rather than concepts or facts known to be true. Coined by comedian Stephen Colbert on 17 October.

patent troll: a person or business, especially a lawyer, who applies for or owns a patent with no intention of developing the product but with every intention of launching lawsuits against patent infringers.

And the winner is: podcast.

Most Creative:

whale tail: the appearance of thong or g-string underwear above the waistband of pants, shorts, or a skirt. Also known as a longhorn, esp. in Texas.

pineosaur: a very old, Wollemi pine tree in Australia’s Blue Mountains.

muffin top: the bulge of flesh hanging over the top of low-rider jeans.

fleeancée: runaway bride Jennifer Wilbanks.

And the winner is: whale tail.

Most Unnecessary:

man date: when two heterosexual men engage in an activity together without romantic implications.

pope-squatting: registering a domain name that is the same of a new pope in order to profit from it.

K Fed: Kevin Federline, Mr. Britney Spears, formed in emulation of J Lo.

reverse logistics: a process by which you desupply your warehouse or distribute stored merchandise.

And the winner is: K Fed.

Most Outrageous:

Whizzinator: a trademark for a realistic-looking prosthetic penis that dispenses synthetic urine in order to pass a drug test.

Bumper Nutz: fake testicles hung from the rear end of a vehicle.

Ex-Lax option: nuclear option; immediately withdrawal of troops from Iraq

crotchfruit: a child; children. Perhaps inspired by the expression the fruit of one’s loins, this term began among proponents of child-free public spaces, but has since spread to parents who use it jocularly.

intelligent design, the theory that life could only have been created by a sentient being. Often acronymized and pronounced as ID, the theory is being pushed by proponents of creation science as a necessary part of school curricula alongside explanations of evolution.

And the winner is: crotchfruit.

Most Euphemistic:

VBIED: a car bomb. An acronym for Vehicle-Borne Improvised Explosive Device.

Sometimes pronounced vee-bid or vee-bidder.

internal nutritution: force-feeding a prisoner against his or her will.

holistic practioner: a prostitute.

holiday tree: a Christmas tree.

extraordinary rendition: the surrendering of a suspect or detainee to another jurisdiction, especially overseas.

man date: when two heterosexual men engage in an activity together without romantic implications.

And the winner is: internal nutrition.

Best Tom Cruise Word of the Year, a.k.a. "Cruiselex":

jump the couch: to exhibit strange or frenetic behavior. Inspired by the couchbouncing antics of Tom Cruise on Oprah Winfrey’s talk show in May. It derives from an earlier term, jump the shark, meaning to (irretrievably) diminish in quality; to outlast public interest or popular support.

TomKat: the celebrity couple of Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes.

Cruisazy: crazy in the manner of Tom Cruise.

And the winner is: jump the couch.

Most Likely to Succeed:

sudoku: a number puzzle in which numbers 1 through 9 must be placed into a grid of cells so that each row or column contains only one of each. The current craze started in Japan, caught on in the U.K. in 2004, and then exploded in the U.S. in 2005.

podcast: a digital feed containing audio or video files for downloading to a portable MP3 player. From the brand name MP3 player iPod + broadcast.

Cyber Monday: the Monday after Thanksgiving, purported to be the day that most online shopping takes place.

folksonomy: a taxonomy or ontology created by an ad hoc group of non-experts. From folk + ta(x)onomy.

And the winner is: sudoku.

Least Likely to Succeed:

pope-squatting: registering a domain name that is the same of a new pope before the pope chooses his new name in order to profit from it.

metrospiritual: an unspecific, cosmpolitan, and expansive view of spirituality. Inspired by metrosexual.

Cruiselex: Cruiselex is not itself a nominated word, but the term refers collectively to all the other Tom-Cruise-related words of the year in the category below. (The term Cruiselex was coined in the WOTY meeting.)
Brangelina: the celebrity couple Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie.

GSAVE: acronym for the Global Struggle Against Violent Extremism, a failed attempt by the Bush administration to rename the Global War On Terror.

And the winner is: pope-squatting.

2005 ADS Word of the Year:

truthiness: the quality of stating concepts or facts one wishes or believes to be true, rather than concepts or facts known to be true.

Katrina: all Katrina-related words.

podcast: a digital feed containing audio or video files for downloading to a portable MP3 player. From the brand name MP3 player iPod + broadcast.

intelligent design: the theory that life could only have been created by a sentient being. Often acronymized and pronounced as ID, the theory is being pushed by proponents of creation science as a necessary part of school curricula alongside explanations of evolution.

refugee: a person who has been forced to leave their country in order to escape war, persecution, or natural disaster. The word was notable in 2005 for the popular redefinition to exclude victims of Katrina because refugees are perceived as only being from developing countries.

Cruiselex: Cruiselex is not itself a nominated word, but the term refers collectively to all the other Tom-Cruise-related words of the year in the special category. The term Cruiselex was actually coined during the ADS meeting.

Heck of a job: catch phrase coined by President Bush to praise FEMA director Michael Brown’s handling of the Katrina emergency.

brown-out: the poor handling of an emergency, after FEMA director Brown.

disaster industrial complex: the array of businesses which make profit from by providing emergency services, especially those that result from no-bid government contracts.

And the winner is: truthiness.

Some may object to truthiness as artificial and something of a joke. But many in the room felt that most of the events that dominated the news in 2005 all resulted because of truthiness, the discarding of facts in favor of what one wishes were true: the conduct of war in Iraq, the failure to acknowledge that US personnel were responsible for torturing prisoners, the revelation of domestic spying in the US, the government’s handling of the Katrina disaster, the intelligent design embarrassment, the nomination of a clearly unqualified person for the US Supreme Court because she had a good heart, the Valerie Plame affair, and the Republican congressional scandals 

And there is a bit of irony in a group of linguists honoring the word. For when he coined it, Stephen Colbert had this to say about it: "And that brings us to tonight’s word: truthiness. Now I’m sure some of the Word Police, the wordanistas over at Webster’s, are gonna say, ‘Hey, that’s not a word.’ Well, anybody who knows me knows that I’m no fan of dictionaries or reference books. They’re elitist. Constantly telling us what is or isn’t true, or what did or didn’t happen. Who’s Britannica to tell me the Panama Canal was finished in 1914? If I wanna say it happened in 1941, that’s my right. I don’t trust books. They’re all fact, no heart."

A Language Gift List

9 December 2005

So what do you get that word lover for Christmas (or whatever holiday you celebrate)? Here are a few suggestions.

Of course, topping your gift list should be Word Myths: Debunking Linguistic Urban Legends, by David Wilton, Oxford University Press, 2004, $21.95. Not only will you be giving a great gift, but you’ll be putting some ducats into my pocket.

Susie Dent’s Fanboys and Overdogs: The Language Report, Oxford University Press, 2005, is a look at the latest trends in the langauge.

Lovers of political jargon will enjoy Hatchet Jobs And Hardball: The Oxford Dictionary Of American Political Slang, edited by Grant Barrett, Oxford University Press, 2004, $25.00. It’s a great source for the origins of political terms. Barrett is also the editor of doubletongued.org.

If you’re looking for a comprehensive history of the English language to give to someone, you can’t do much better than David Crystal’s The Stories of English, Overlook, 2004, $15.95. Or try Melyvyn Bragg’s The Adventure of English: The Biography of a Language, Arcade, 2004, $27.95.

More limited in the scope of its coverage is Do You Speak American, by Robert MacNeil and William Cran, Harvest Books, 2004, $13.00. It’s the companion book to the PBS television documentary about American dialect.

If it’s dictionaries you want to know more about, there are two excellent books by Simon Winchester on the history of the Oxford English Dictionary. The Meaning of Everything: The Story of the Oxford English Dictionary, Oxford University Press, 2004, $13.95, is a "biography" of the famous dictionary. The Professor and the Madman: A Tale of Murder, Insanity, and the Making of The Oxford English Dictionary, HarperCollins, 1998, $13.95, is the story of one peculiar contributor the dictionary.

I must confess, I haven’t read this next one, but Michael Quinion is the editor of worldwidewords.org and he does good work. So I have no problems including Ballyhoo, Buckaroo, and Spuds: Ingenious Tales of Words and Their Origins, Smithsonian Books, 2004, $19.95.

Going Nucular: Language, Politics, and Culture in Controversial Times, by Geoffrey Nunberg, Public Affairs, 2004, $18.95, is a collection of NPR radio essays by the Stanford linguist.

And if language and the brain is your bag, you can’t go wrong with Steven Pinker’s classic The Language Instinct: How the Mind Creates Language, Perennial Classics, 1994, $15.00.

It’s not so much about language, but something that any language lover would enjoy is The Complete New Yorker: Eighty Years of the Nation’s Greatest Magazine, Random House, 2005, $100. It’s a collection of DVD-ROMs containing the complete archives the great magazine. You can find it for about $60 and it’s well worth the price.

Also available electronically is Samuel Johnson’s A Dictionary of the English Language, Octavo, 2005, $50.00. This edition is complete and on CD-ROM.

Latin Legacies

2 December 2005

If you pay attention to the topics dealt with in this newsletter each week, you can get a glimpse into my life. Recently, I’ve been watching the excellent HBO series Rome, about Julius Caesar and playing the extremely addictive computer game Rome: Total War. These two sources are the inspiration for this week’s article.

We all know that many English words are derived from Latin roots. Most commonly, these words come to us from Old French as a result of the Norman Conquest of England in 1066 or are modern scientific and technical terms created in modern times from Latin roots. But there are a few that come to us directly and mostly unaltered from the traditions and practices of ancient Rome. Here are some of those words.

censor, n., a Roman official charged with maintaining the census and supervising public morals. From censere, to account, to reckon. English use of the term, other than references to the ancient Roman office, dates to 1592. By 1644, the word was being applied specifically to one who reviews and expurgates literature. Use as a verb is much more recent, dating only from 1882.

cohort, n., a unit of soldiers, one tenth of a legion. In use to mean a group of modern soldiers from c.1500 and a group united by a common bond from 1719. The statistical sense, meaning a group sharing a common statistical characteristic, such as being born in the same year, dates to 1944. Since 1952, the word, especially in American usage, has been used to mean an assistant or accomplice. This individual meaning is considered by some to be an erroneous usage.

consul, n., one of two officials, chosen by the Senate, who ruled the Roman Republic. From con- together + sal walk, literally those who walk together. The title, without the attendant power, was maintained during the Empire. Starting in 1601 it began to be used in English to mean a representative of the foreign merchants in a port or city who negotiates with the government and promotes commercial relationships. This grew into the current sense of a diplomat who assists citizens abroad and promotes commerce with his home nation.

decimate, v., Roman military punishment for mass desertion or cowardice in battle where one in ten soldiers in a unit would be killed. In English use since 1600 to mean to destroy one tenth of something and later used more loosely meaning to destroy something.

dictator, n., Roman official with absolute authority to rule the state during periods of emergency. Upon recommendation of the Senate, the Consuls would nominate a dictator who would rule for no more than six months. Sulla, in 82 BC, extended the term of office for several years. Julius Caesar made himself dictator-for-life in 45 BC. The office was abolished after his assassination. Traditionally, Roman dictators would resign after addressing the emergency at hand without waiting for their six-month term to expire. It has been in modern use since c.1592.

duke, n. this is one that is modified in form somewhat from the Latin word. It is from dux, literally leader, the commander of two or more legions. It’s been in English use from the 14th century as a title of nobility ranking below a prince.

forum, n., a Roman marketplace. From 1735 it has meant a place of public discussion. The use of the word to apply to on-line or electronic discussions dates to 1971. Starting in 1848 it acquired a legal sense meaning a court or jurisdiction. The term forum shopping, meaning to attempt to find a jurisdiction that will be most favorable to your case, is from 1954

legate, n., the officer commanding a legion or the governor of a province. It has been used since the 12th century to mean a representative of the pope and since the 14th century to mean a diplomat in general.

legion, n., a Roman military unit composed of (depending on the era) from 3000 to 6000 men. From the Latin legio, or levy. From before 1300 to refer to a multitude. From 1598 to refer to specific modern military units.

pantheon, n., a temple in Rome, noted for its great dome, consecrated to all the gods. From the Greek pan-, meaning all + theos, god. In modern use, it is used to refer to a group of people or things that are venerated or have great importance, 1834.

pontiff, n., high priest. A pontifex was one of several high priests in Roman religion, the collegium of the Pontifices was led by the Pontifex Maximus. From pont, bridge, + fic, to make, literally a bridge builder. But the first element is possibly a corruption of the Etruscan puntis, or propitiatory offering. Pontiff has been applied to bishops, esp. the Bishop of Rome, since the 17th century. One of the official titles of the Pope is Pontifex Maximus.

senate, n., a body that ruled the Roman republic, originally composed of representatives elected by the patrician class, later by appointment and by men who had held specific offices. Technically, the Roman Senate was not a legislative body and could only advise the consuls and people’s assemblies, but in practice the Senate’s advice was binding. Literally, senate means a council of old men. It has been applied to various governing bodies in Europe from the 14th century and most famously is the name used for the upper house of the US Congress.

tribunal, n., from tribune, a Roman official. A tribune of the people was one of several officials who represented the interests of the plebian class. A military tribune was one of six officers in a legion. The tribunal was a raised platform from which a tribune would give commands and adjudicate disputes. It has been used since 1590 to mean a court.

triumvirate, n., a group of three rulers in ancient Rome. The First Triumvirate was Julius Caesar, Pompey, and Crassus and dominated Roman politics from 59-53 BC, ending with the death of Crassus. The Second Triumvirate consisted of Octavian (later Augustus), Mark Antony, and Lepidus. Unlike the First, this Second Triumvirate was formalized in law and ruled Rome as a tripartite dictatorship starting in 43 BC, although Lepidus was stripped of most of his power in 36 BC when he attempted to take up arms against Octavian. Octavian and Antony continued to rule until the expiration of the triumvirate’s term in 33 BC Subsequently, the two went to war with each other, culminating in the sea battle at Actium where Octavian defeated Antony and Cleopatra and, all his political rivals gone, had himself appointed the first emperor, ending the Roman Republic. Triumvirate has been in use since 1584 to mean any rule by three authorities.

Trafalgar & The Language of the Age of Sail, Part 1

21 November 2005

Two hundred years ago today, on 21 October 1805, the Battle of Trafalgar was fought off the coast of Spain. A fleet of 27 Royal Navy ships under the command of Vice Admiral Horatio Nelson defeated a fleet of 33 French and Spanish ships under the command of Vice Admiral Pierre Charles Silvestre de Villeneuve. In the battle, 22 French and Spanish ships were captured or sunk. No British ships were lost.

Nelson was killed at the height of the battle as his flagship, HMS Victory, grappled with the French ships Bucentaure and Redoubtable. Villeneuve was captured and eventually paroled back to France. Upon his return he was found dead in his room at an inn, stabbed in the chest six times. The death was ruled a suicide.

Even though the Napoleonic wars continued for another ten years, the threat of Napoleon’s invading England was ended at Trafalagar that October. But more than this, Trafalgar cemented British control of seas for a hundred years and bestowed on the Royal Navy an aura of invincibility.

Regular readers of the Wordorigins site and those who’ve read Word Myths are familiar with CANOE, the jocular Conspiracy to Attribute Nautical Origins to Everything, the habit of naval enthusiasts to find nautical etymologies for all sorts of words and phrases. We’re all familiar with the more common terms that are falsely given nautical origins. But there are a large number of words and phrases that do have nautical origins or relate to the Age of Sail. So in honor of the battle fought 200 years ago, here is a selection of words and phrases with true nautical connections.

admiral, n., a naval officer of the highest rank, c.1425, in earlier use to mean an Arab emir or prince, c.1205. From Arabic, via Old French, amara, to command or order, related to emir. Early English use was in the phrase amyrel (admiral) of the sea, with the latter part of the phrase eventually dropped.

ahoy, int., a nautical greeting call, 1751. A combination of the two interjections a + hoy.

avast, v., imperative meaning stop, cease, 1681. Probably from the Dutch hou’vast, hold fast.

ballyhoo of blazes, n., a sailor’s term of contempt for an unworthy ship, 1831.

barque, n., a ship, applied to various types at different times, 1473. Also bark. From the French. The word appears in Latin, but may ultimately be Celtic in origin.

beat to quarters, v., imperative ordering the crew to battle stations, 1836. From the use of a drum to spread the command throughout the ship.

bridge, n., deck or platform from which officers direct the movement of the ship, 1843. Originally a narrow, raised platform that ran from side to side of the ship.

brig, n., 1. a two-masted, vessel, square-rigged on the foremast and fore-and-aft rigged on the mainmast, 1720. 2. a naval jail, originally on board a ship, 1852. An abbreviation of brigantine.

brigantine, n., a type of ship, originally a ship equipped with both sails and oars, 1525; later, a ship of the type described in brig, above, 1695.

captain, n., an officer commanding a ship, the naval rank below admiral, 1554. In earlier use to mean a chief or leader, a military commander, c.1380. From the Latin capitaneus, headman, chief, via Old French, ultimately from Latin caput, head.

caravel, n., a type of sailing ship, applied to various types at different times, usually a small, light ship, 1527. The form carvel was in earlier use, 1462. From the Italian caravella, via the French, which is probably a diminutive of the Spanish caraba, which is from Greek via Latin.

close-hauled, adj., sailing as much into the wind as possible, close to the wind, 1769.

cockpit, n., the aft portion of the lowest deck of a ship, normally the quarters of junior officers, in battle used as a surgery, 1706.

corvette, n., a small, single-decked warship, 1636. Later applied to a small, anti-submarine warship, 1940. From the French, ultimately from the Latin corbita, a slow sailing ship, corbis being a basket.

crow’s nest, n., a barrel or similar box affixed to a masthead as a shelter for a look-out, usually used on a whaler.

dandyfunk, n., hard tack soaked in water and baked with fat and molasses, 1883.

deck, n., a covering for a ship that also serves as a floor for the spaces above, 1513. Originally, the term referred to the covering, later shifting to the floor. Probably from the Middle-Dutch dec, covering or roof.

dog-watch, n., one of two abbreviated watches, from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. and 6 p.m. to 8 p.m., 1700. By creating seven watches instead of six, the watches shift each night. From a reference to the brief, light sleep of a dog. In Patrick O’Brian’s nautical novels it is punned that dog-watches are so called because they are curtailed.

England expects that every man will do his duty, c.phr., message sent to his fleet by Nelson just prior to the Battle of Trafalgar. Nelson originally penned, "England confides that..." but confides was not in the signal book and so the phrase was changed to make it easier to send by signal flag.

ensign, n., 1. a flag flown from a naval vessel, c.1400. 2. a naval officer of the lowest rank, originally a soldier who served as standard bearer. From the French, corresponding to insignia.

Fanny Adams, n., sailor slang for canned meat, 1889. From the name of a woman murdered in 1867.

fighting top, n., platform around the mast of a warship used by marines and sailors to fire down on opposing ships, 1896.

first rate, adj., describing the most powerful warships, the Royal Navy categorized ships into six rates according to the number of guns carried on board. Also second rate, third rate, etc.

forecastle, n., a raised deck in the bow of a warship, used as height to dominate opposing ships, as if it were a castle. Often spelled fo’c’sle to reflect the nautical pronunciation.

frigate, n., a warship rated just below a ship of the line, 1630. In earlier use to refer to a light, fast vessel. The etymology is unknown.

(to be continued next week)

Naming the Planets, Part 2

18 November 2005

A question to the Wordorigins.org discussion forum a week or so ago asked about the origins of the names of the planets. The "official" names of objects in the solar system are assigned by the International Astronomical Union (IAU), a global association of astronomers. The IAU follows several conventions in naming planets and moons, the main ones being that planets are given names of Roman mythological beings and moons are given Greek mythological names associated with the Greek equivalent of the Roman god. Many of these names did not originate with the IAU, but have borne the names of these deities dating back into antiquity. There are exceptions to the IAU naming conventions. Shakespearean names are assigned to moons of Uranus and the occasional Norse or Inuit mythological name appears here and there.

Here is the second half of our examination of the names of the planets and moons.

Saturn, the sixth planet from the sun and the second largest, is named after the king of the Titans, the father of Jupiter. Saturn’s Greek counterpart is Cronos. English use of Saturn as the planetary name dates back to Old English. The adjective is Saturnian, 1557.

Like Jupiter, Saturn has many satellites. The Saturnian moons tend to be named after Titans from myth, although there are many exceptions:

• Pan, named after the Greek god of nature. Discovered by astronomer Mark Showalter in 1990 from Voyager photos.

• Atlas, after the Titan condemned to support the heavens on his shoulders. Discovered by Richard Terrile in 1980 from Voyager photos

• Prometheus, Greek for foresight, after the Titan who gave fire to man. Discovered by S. Collins in 1980 from Voyager photos

• Pandora, after the first woman in Greek mythology. Discovered by Collins in 1980 from Voyager photos.

• Epimetheus, Greek for hindsight, brother of Prometheus. This moon was first observed by Walker in 1966, but was confused with Janus (see next). In 1977, Fountain and Larson demonstrated they were separate objects.

• Janus, after the Roman god of doorways. Discovered by either Walker or Audoin Dolfus in 1966. Dolfus sighted it a few hours before Walker, but it is uncertain whether Dolfus saw Janus or Epimetheus

• Mimas, after a Titan slain by Hercules. Discovered by William Herschel in 1789.

• Enceladas, after a Titan slain by Athena. Discovered by Herschel in 1789

• Tethys, after a Titaness and sea goddess. First seen by Giovanni Cassini in 1684.

• Telesto, after the daughter of Tethys. Discovered by Smith, Reitsma, Larson and Fountain in 1980.

• Calypso, after the sea nymph who delayed Odysseus for seven years. Discovered by Pascu, Seidelmann, Baum, and Currie in 1980

• Dione, after the mother of Aphrodite. Spotted by Cassini in 1684

• Rhea, after the sister and wife of Cronus, the mother of Zeus. Discovered by Cassini in 1672.

• Titan, the largest of the Saturnian satellites, is named after the family of giants overthrown by Zeus. Christiaan Huygens discovered this moon in 1655.

• Hyperion, after a Titan. Discovered by William Bond and William Lassell in 1848.

• Iapetus, a Titan, the father of Prometheus and Atlas. Discovered by Cassini in 1671.

• Phoebe, after the daughter of Uranus and Gaia. Discovered by William Pickering in 1898.

• Several Saturnian moons, discovered in 2000, were given names by IAU in 2004, Norse, Gallic, and Inuit names represent satellites in three different inclination groups
  

  • Ymir, Norse giant

  • Paaliaq, Inuit giant

  • Tarvos, Gallic giant

  • Ijiraq, Inuit giant

  • Suttungr, Norse giant

  • Kiviuq, Inuit giant

  • Mundilfari, Norse giant

  • Albiorix, Gallic giant

  • Skathi, Norse giantess

  • Erriapo, Gallic giant

  • Siarnaq, Inuit giant

  • Thrymr, Norse giant

Uranus, named after the Greek deity of the heavens, husband of Gaia and father of Cronus, is the seventh planet and the first to be discovered in modern times. It was first sighted by Herschel in 1781. Herschel named it the Georgium sidus (the Georgian planet) in honor of King George III. The name Uranus was proposed by Johann Bode sometime before 1802. The adjective is Uranian, 1844.

Uranian moons follow a different naming convention than most objects in the solar system. Instead of being named after characters in Greco-Roman myth, they are named after Shakespearian characters:

• Cordelia, after King Lear’s daughter. Discovered by Voyager 2 in 1986.

• Ophelia, after Polonius’ daughter from Hamlet. Discovered by Voyager 2 in 1986.

• Bianca, after Katherine’s sister in The Taming of the Shrew. Discovered by Voyager 2 in 1986.

• Cressida, after the title character in Troilus and Cressida. Discovered by Voyager 2 in 1986.

• Desdemona, after Othello’s wife. Discovered by Voyager 2 in 1986.

• Juliet, after the heroine of Romeo and Juliet. Discovered by Voyager 2 in 1986.

• Portia, after a character in Merchant of Venice. Discovered by Voyager 2 in 1986.

• Rosalind, after a character in As You Like It. Discovered by Voyager 2 in 1986.

• Belinda, taking a break from the Bard, this moon is named after a character in Pope’s The Rape of the Lock. Discovered by Voyager 2 in 1986.

• Puck, after the fairy in A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Discovered by Voyager 2 in 1986.

• Miranda is the innermost of the Uranian large moons and is named after a character in The Tempest. Discovered by Gerard Kuiper in 1948.

• Ariel, named after a spirit in The Tempest, was discovered by William Lassell in 1851.

• Umbriel is another Uranian moon that is not named after a Shakespearian character. Again, the name is from The Rape of the Lock. Discovered by Lassell in 1851.

• Titania was queen of the fairies in A Midsummer Night’s Dream. It was discovered by Herschel in 1787.

• Oberon, was king of the fairies and husband to Titania. It was also discovered by Herschel in 1787.

• Caliban, Sycorax, Trinculo, Prospero, Setebos, and Stephano, were all discovered in the late 1990s and named after characters in The Tempest.

• Several other moons of Uranus have been discovered, but have yet to be named.

The eighth, and some would say last, planet is Neptune, named for the Roman god of the sea. It was discovered by Johann Galle and Heinrich d’Arrest in 1846, although Galileo had seen in 1613, but mistook it for a star. Due to Pluto’s highly eccentric orbit, Neptune is sometimes the outermost planet. The adjective is Neptunian, 1849.

As one might expect for a planet named after the god of the sea, Neptunian moons all have a watery flavor to their names:

• Naiad, named after type of water nymph, was discovered in 1989 by Voyager 2.

• Thalassa, named after the Greek personification of the sea, another name for Tethys (see Saturnian moons), was also discovered in 1989 by Voyager 2.

• Despina, a third moon found in 1989 by Voyager 2, is named after a nymph, the daughter of Poseidon, 1989 by Voyager 2.

• Galatea is named for the daughter of the cyclops Polyphemus, a granddaughter of Poseidon, not after the statue of the same name carved by Pygmalian that came to life. It, too, was discovered in 1989 by Voyager 2.

• Larissa, is named after the daughter of Pelasgus. No specific myths connected with her. It is yet another Voyager 2 moon.

• Proteus, is named after the shape-changing sea-god, the sixth and last moon discovered by Voyager 2 in 1989.

• Triton, is the only large moon of Neptune. It is named after a god of the sea, the son of Poseidon. It was discovered in 1846 by Lassell.

• Nereid, the name for the fifty daughters of the Titan Nereus, was found in 1949 by Kuiper.

Pluto was discovered in 1930 by Clyde Tombaugh and named after the Roman god of the underworld. Astronomers are currently debating whether Pluto should be classified as a planet because of its small size and its orbit that is inclined outside the plane of the other planets. Pluto has three moons, one named. Charon, discovered in 1978 by Jim Christy, is named after the ferryman who takes departed souls over the river Acheron into Hades

The recently discovered Sedna is so far out, more than twice as far from the sun as Pluto, that its orbital period is 10,500 years. Slightly smaller than Pluto, Sedna was discovered in 2004 and named after the Inuit goddess of the sea. Given the controversy over Pluto’s planetary status, it is unlikely that Sedna will be classified as a planet.

In June of this year, astronomers Mike Brown, Chad Trujillo, and David Rabinowitz announced the discovery of the tenth planet. The planet currently has a designation of 2003 UB313. A permanent name has been proposed and is under review by the IAU, but what that is and whether the IAU will accept it is unknown. Little is known about 2003 UB313, although it is definitely bigger than Pluto—the best guess puts it at about 125% of Pluto’s size or somewhat larger than Triton. 2003 UB313 orbits the sun at a distance of 97 astronomical units, making it the most distant object known to orbit the sun. (Earth orbits at one astronomical unit; Pluto is at about 40, and Sedna is at 90.) In September, a moon orbiting 2003 UB313 was found.

Hypothetical Objects

Over the years, the existence of various objects in the solar system have been postulated but never found to actually exist. Here are some that went so far as to have (unsanctioned by the IAU) names.

Vulcan was the name of a planet believed, based on perturbations in Mercury’s orbit, to orbit between the sun and Mercury. It was named by Urbain Le Verrier in 1859 after the Roman blacksmith god. In 1916, Einstein’s General Theory of Relativity explained Mercury’s orbital oddities without need for Vulcan to exist. In 1970-71, the belief in Vulcan was temporarily revived when astronomers observed some faint objects within Mercury’s orbit, but these turned out to be comets passing close by or striking the sun.

Neith is a supposed moon of Venus. It was first "sighted" by Cassini in 1672. It was "seen" by several astronomers between that year and 1892. Controversial because not all who looked for it saw it, Neith is now known not to exist and the "sightings" were confusions with stars and other objects. Neith was the Egyptian goddess of war and the hunt.

Themis is a supposed moon of Saturn. "Sighted" by Pickering in 1905, it remained in some almanacs into the 1960s. Themis was a Titan, the mother of the three Fates.

Nemesis is a faint star believed by some to be the Sun’s binary companion at a distance of about 1.4 light years. According to those who believe in its existence, every 30 million years Nemesis comes close enough to disturb the Oort cloud, sending a shower of comets into the inner solar system and causing impacts on Earth and the other planets. The alleged star was named in 1984 after the Greek goddess of retribution. No firm evidence for the existence of Nemesis has ever been presented and its existence is highly doubtful.