The eight-pointed Star of Inanna or Star of Ishtar (Arabic: نجمة عشتار , najmat eshtar) is a most common symbol of the Sumerian goddess (of sex, war, justice, and political power, in that order) Inanna and her Semitic equivalent Ishtar/Astarte. Because of the association with the planet Venus, the symbol is also known as the Star of Venus.
In Mandarin Chinese, 行 is an interesting word with a number of pronunciations and meanings. As a verb (Pinyin: xíng 🔊), it could mean “to walk”, “to go”, “to move”, “to carry out”, “to execute”, “to perform”, “to be good”, “to work” etc. Some compound words of 行 (xíng) include
As a noun (háng), it could mean “profession”, “trade”, “business”, “place”, “line” (of objects) or “row”. Yet as another noun (pronounced either xíng 🔊 or xìng 🔊) it also could mean “behaviour” or “conduct”.
行 is derived from a pictogram of a street intersection. According to Wiktionary,
Originally symmetric, it has been simplified asymmetrically; the left half 彳 is widely used as a radical, while the right half 亍 finds occasional use, and the character can be broken up as 彳 + 亍, though originally it was not a compound.
But how “crossroads” came to represent all those disparate concepts? Lawrence J. Howell in his Etymological Dictionary of Han/Chinese Characters provides the following connection:
A depiction of straight and crossing roads extending into the distance → go; movement; procession; road → line (of people) → conduct; do; perform (← carry out an action).
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| tournez à droite, tournez à gauche, tout droit, carrefour, La maison du Matcha, waka waka // turn right, turn left, straight ahead, crossroads, The House of Matcha, waka waka |
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More adventures of sumo wrestler cat @ My leçons de French.
In Mandarin Chinese, 星 (Pinyin: xīng 🔊) means “star”, broadly speaking: it could be any heavenly body, celebrity, or a star shape. “Star” in a purely astronomical sense is 星星 (xīngxing) — not to be confused with 行星 (xíngxīng), “planet”.
You’d think that the Chinese could have chosen something like ★ to represent a star, but no. The original form of 星 was 曐, which is made of 晶 (jīng) “sparkling” on top of now-familiar 生 (shēng) “to give birth”, “to grow”, etc. In its turn, 晶 consists of three radicals 日 (rì), “sun”. In 星, only one sun is left, but you get the picture. Many historical forms of this character look surprisingly similar to the Western astrological or astronomical symbols.
According to Wǔ Xíng, the five elements correspond to the five visible planets (and vice versa) as follows:
♇ and ⯓ are the astronomical and astrological symbols representing Pluto. This celestial body was named after Pluto (Πλούτων), the Greek and Roman god of the underworld, whose earlier Greek name was Hades (ᾍδης).
Pluto is not a classical planet and was unknown to alchemists. It was discovered in 1930 by Clyde Tombaugh after almost a year of systematic search for trans-Neptunian “Planet X” predicted by Percival Lowell and William Pickering. Pluto was enjoying the status of planet until 2006 when it was reclassified (or “plutoed”) as a dwarf planet by International Astronomical Union (IAU).
The astronomical symbol for Pluto, ♇, which looks like a flipped and flopped Cyrillic letter Б, is a monogram of the letters “P” and “L” which could be interpreted as the initials of Percival Lowell or “Pickering—Lowell”.
The astrological symbol for Pluto, ⯓, is more in line with other planetary symbols. According to Wikipedia, the circle represents Pluto’s Cap of Invisibility and the arc under the circle represents bident (not to be confused with bidet). Also, it could be thought of as a symbol of Mercury, ☿, with circle and arc swapped. I like this latter symbol more because it looks like a flower.
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♆ is an astronomical and astrological symbol representing the planet Neptune.
This planet was named after Neptune, the Roman god of the sea, whose Greek counterpart was Poseidon. Neptune is not a classical planet and was unknown to alchemists. Its existence was predicted by Urbain Le Verrier and it was discovered in 1846 by Johann Gottfried Galle.
According to Wikipedia, it was Le Verrier himself who proposed both the name and the symbol of a trident for the new planet. An alternative symbol, featuring letters “L” and “V” (in honour of Le Verrier), was proposed by François Arago but it never took off.
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⛢ and ♅ are the astronomical and astrological symbols representing the planet Uranus.
The planet got its name from the ancient Greek god of the sky Ouranos (Οὐρανός). It is the only planet in the Solar System named after the Greek deity. Uranus is not a classical planet and was unknown to alchemists.
According to Wikipedia,
The symbols for Uranus were created shortly after its discovery in 1781. One symbol, ⛢, invented by J. G. Köhler and refined by Bode, was intended to represent the newly discovered metal platinum; since platinum, commonly called white gold, was found by chemists mixed with iron, the symbol for platinum combines the alchemical symbols for iron, ♂, and gold, ☉. This symbol also combines the symbols of Mars (♂) and the Sun (☉) because in Greek mythology, Uranus represented heaven, and represents the combined power of Mars’ spear and the Sun. Another symbol, ♅, was suggested by Lalande in 1784. In a letter to Herschel, Lalande described it as “un globe surmonté par la première lettre de votre nom” (“a globe surmounted by the first letter of your name”).
⊕ and ♁ are the astronomical symbols representing the planet Earth.
Earth was not one of the seven classical planets. You’d think it would be natural for astrologers to put Earth in the centre. But no. Juan Eduardo Cirlot writes in his Dictionary of Symbols:
But astrology and traditional symbolism owe their inspiration not to the Copernican system but to that which had been accepted by the Ancients. <...> At the same time, the fact of there being seven planets responds to the idea of the seven planetary heavens, which in turn tallies with that of the seven Directions or areas in space (which in turn, when transposed into terms of time, becomes the origin of the seven days of the week). The relationship of the planets to the seven points in space is as follows: Sun — the zenith, Moon — the nadir, Mercury — the centre, Venus — the West, Mars — the South, Jupiter — the East, and Saturn — the North.
One of symbols for Earth is a cross in a circle ⊕ which could be thought of as a globe with equator and one meridian.
Another symbol is a stylised globus cruciger, ♁, which looks like the upside-down “mirror of Venus” ♀, or maybe it is just ⊕ where the cross went off-centre. Note its (unintentional) similarity with Chinese character 土 “earth”. ♁ is also an alchemical symbol for antimony.
Earth deities include goddesses Cel, Cybele, Demeter, Gaia, Jörð, Ki, Māra, Mat Zemlya (Мать-Сыра Земля), Mokoš (Мокошь), Pachamama, Papahānaumoku, Sif, Terra (Tellus), Urash and Žemyna as well as gods Geb, Tudigong and Veles.
♄ is an astrological and astronomical symbol representing the planet Saturn.
This planet was named after Saturnus, the Roman god of agriculture, whose Greek counterpart was Cronus. In alchemical tradition, Saturn was associated with lead. The English word Saturday and Dutch zaterdag are derived from Latin Saturni dies, i.e. “day of Saturnus”.
But what about the symbol ♄? According to Wikipedia,
Saturn is usually depicted with a scythe or sickle, and the planetary symbol has apparently evolved from a picture of this attribute, in Kamateros (12th century) shown in a shape similar to the letter eta η, with the horizontal stroke added along with the “Christianization” of the other symbols <as we’ve already seen in the cases of Mercury and Venus> in the early 16th century.
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“The mirror of Venus” ♀ is an astrological and astronomical symbol representing the planet Venus.
The planet was named after Venus, the Roman goddess of sex, love, beauty, fertility and prosperity. Her Greek counterpart was Aphrodite. In alchemical tradition, Venus was associated with copper.
In many Romance languages, the word for Friday originates from Latin Veneris dies, i.e. “day of Venus” (divendres, vendredi, venerdì, viernes, vineri); Venus even found her way to Breton and Welsh (Gwener). In Germanic laguages, this day (fredag, Freitag, Friday, vrijdag) became connected with Freyja and/or Frigg, even it is not clear whether they were the same or two different goddesses.
According to Wikipedia, the mediaeval symbol for Venus did not have a horizontal stroke, which was added later to form a Christian cross, while “the idea that the symbol represents the goddess’ hand mirror dates to the 19th century”. In biology, medicine and genealogy, ♀ symbolises the female sex; in sociology and gender politics, the female gender.
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☿ is an astrological and astronomical symbol representing the planet Mercury.
The planet was named after the Roman messenger god, Mercury, whom the Romans identified with the Greek god Hermes. The symbol ☿ is a simplified version of caduceus (a staff entwined by two serpents) carried by Mercury/Hermes. In alchemical tradition, Mercury was associated with quicksilver (mercury).
In Romance languages, the word for Wednesday originates from Latin dies Mercurii, i.e. “day of Mercury” (mercredi, mercoledì, miércoles, miercuri). In Germanic laguages, this day became connected with god Odin or Wōden (onsdag, Wednesday, woensdag).
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The spear of Mars ♂ is an astrological and astronomical symbol representing the planet Mars.
In Mesopotamia, the planet Mars was associated with the god of war and pestilence Nergal. The ancient Greeks connected the planet with their god of war, Ares, and Romans identified it with Mars, their god of war and masculinity (as well as guardian of soldiers and farmers). In alchemical tradition, Mars was associated with iron. In Romance languages, the word for Tuesday originates from Latin Martis dies, i.e. “day of Mars” (mardi, martedì, martes, marți). In Germanic laguages, this day became connected with god Týr or Tiwaz (Dienstag, dinsdag, tirsdag, tisdag and so on).
The arrow and a circle in the current symbol ♂ represent spear and shield, respectively. In biology, medicine and genealogy, ♂ symbolises the male sex; in sociology and gender politics, the male gender.
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The crescent ☽ is a symbol representing the Moon. Note the similarity between ☽ and archaic forms of Chinese character 月 (yuè).
In alchemical tradition, the Moon was associated with silver. In many European languages, the word for Monday originates from Latin Lunae dies, i.e. “moon day”, after Roman goddess Luna (lundi, lunedì, lunes, luni) or Germanic god Máni (maanantai, maandag, måndag, Montag, etc.). Other lunar deities include goddesses Anumati, Artemis, Chang’e, Hecate, Hina, Isis, Kuu, Mama Killa, Phoebe, Selene and Yemaya, as well as gods Ay Ata, Bahloo, Jarilo, Sin, Thoth and Tsukuyomi.
The crescent, typically in decrescent orientation ☾, is associated with Islam. Its combination with a five-pointed star, the star and crescent ☪, is used in a number of national flags. The flag of the Comoros shows the crescent and four stars; the Flag of Singapore has the crescent and five stars. The flag of the Maldives features a crescent without any stars.
The circled dot ☉ is an ancient symbol representing the Sun. Note the similarity between ☉ and Chinese 日 (rì).
In alchemical tradition, seven metals were associated with the seven classical planets, which included the Sun and the Moon (but not Earth). The Sun’s metal was gold. In Hellenistic astrology, each classical planet had its own day of the week. Sól or Sunna was the name of the Sun goddess in Germanic mythology. English and other Germanic languages keep the association of Sun and Sunday. Other solar deities include goddesses Amaterasu, Grian, Marici, Saulė, Sulis and Xihe as well as gods Amun, Apollo, Helios, Ra, Shamash, Surya, Tonatiuh and Utu; the gender of the Guanche solar deity Magec is unknown.
