STAR NAMES
by Melvyn Hannibal

(Latin information courtesy of Mary McLoghry)

Some time ago, I overheard two members discussing star names.  They were wondering why the constellation reference in a star name was different to the constellation name, e.g., “Alpha Doradis” and “Dorado”. Astronomy is nothing if not multi-lingual, and this is a good example. As we all know, bright STARS are “named” using the GREEK alphabet in descending order of brightness.  Most CONSTELLATION names are of LATIN origin, or have been Latinised, (so as to fit the conventions). Latin is a very precise language, much like German, and there are specific word forms to denote different functions.  These functions are given in tablular form known as a “declension” that looks like this :-

For the purpose of this discourse, only two cases are relevant – the Nominative and the Genitive.  Nominative is the same as Nominate – “to name”. Thus the nominative case is used to name a constellation and thus it becomes the  “subject” of the event.  Star names are given in the format “star A belonging to (or OF) constellation B”.  Therefore, we have to use the Possessive or Genitive case for the constellation name.  There are five major declension forms, indicated by the way a word ends, as follows :-

First Declension:      Nominative singular ends in ‘a’. Feminine.
                                  Genitive singular ends in ‘ae’
                                  Example – Mensa, Andromeda, Tucana
Second Declension:  Nominative singular ends in ‘us’ or ‘er’. Masculine.
                                  Genitive singular ending in ‘um’. Neuter.
                                  Nominative plural ends in ‘i’.
                                  Example – Taurus, Triangulum, Gemini
Third Declension:    Nominative singular and plural have no set ending.
                                  Genitive singular ends in ‘is’.
                                  Gender can be either masculine or feminine.
                                  Example – Princeps = Principal, Pisces – Fishes (plural), Dorado
Fourth Declension:  Nominative masculine and feminine end in ‘us’.
                                 Neuter form ends in ‘u’.  Genitive ends in ‘us’.
                                 Example – Genu - Knee
Fifth Declension:     Nominative singular ends in ‘es’. Feminine.
                                 Genitive singular end in ‘ei’.
                                 Example – Rees – an object or item.

(Sorry, but I can’t think of any astronomical examples for 4th and 5th declensions.)

When the constellation name consists of two words, e.g., Ursa Major, then both words have to be given the ‘genitive’ case.  Similarly, when the constellation is a plural name, such as ‘Gemini’, then the plural form of the genitive case is used.  There are other word-endings not listed above, but their declensions would fit into one of these five groups.
The table below gives the full declension for each of these classes :