One of the great things about spelling is the way it allows you to understand the world around you. You’re exposed to new foods, sports, animals, and even dance moves. Part of the joy in spelling is exploring all of these categories of words and learning about each of them.
Stars and constellations form a category of words that are derived mostly from Greek and Latin. This allows you to use them to explore one of the fundamental pieces of spelling: roots. I’ve gone through a list of 132 stars and constellations to point out some key roots in 12 of them and other words derived from those roots. At the bottom of this post, you can also find the full list of 132 stars and constellations.
- Antares
- The name comes from Greek anti- meaning not and Ares, the Greek god of war (in other words, “rival of Ares”).
- This star gets its name because its red color and its brightness rival those of the planet Mars (named after the Roman god of war whose Greek form is Ares).
- Antares is a red super-giant with a diameter 700 times larger than the Sun. If it were put in place of the Sun in our solar system, its edge would be between Mars and Jupiter!
- The root anti- appears in many words, including antichresis, antoeci, antepirrhema, and synantectic
- Aquarius
- This comes from Latin aqua meaning water.
- The constellation Aquarius was said by ancient Greek astronomers to resemble a “water bearer”, so its English name translates to that title.
- Aquarius is the 10th largest constellation in the sky.
- The root aqua appears in aquarelle, aquosity, aguamiel, and aqua vitae
- Arcturus
- This star gets its name for being the “guardian of the bear”, which the Greeks called it due to its position in relation to Ursa Major (which resembles a bear)
- Arcturus is the fourth-brightest star in the night sky.
- This is derived from Greek arktos, meaning bear, and Greek horan, meaning to see/look
- Arktos is the root in arctic as well as Arctiidae, Hyaenarctos, and Thalassarctos
- Horan shows up in words like catorama and ephor
- Canis Major, Canis Minor
- These constellations are said to depict the two hunting dogs of the Greek giant Orion, who has a constellation named after him as well (check out the myths of Orion in various cultures here and here).
- Both of these are made up of two Latin words: canis means dog, major means greater, and minor means lesser
- Canis is the root that words like canine, canaille, chenet, canicular, and kennel come from
- Major is the root in majority, majesty, maggiore, majuscule, and majordomo
- Minor comes up in minimum, minuscule, diminuendo, and de minimis
- Capricorn
- Capricorn is said to resemble the Greek god Pan when he was transformed into a half-goat, half-fish creature to escape the giant Typhon (you can read the myth here)
- This comes from Latin caper (combining form capri-) meaning she-goat and Latin cornu- meaning horn
- Words like cabriolet, Capella, crevette, cabrito, and cheverel are all derived from caper
- Cornu- appears in cornucopia, antecornu, cornetto, ergocornine, and cornemuse
- Cetus
- This constellation was named for its resemblance to the sea monster that tried to devour Andromeda in the Greek myth of Perseus and Andromeda (read more about the story here and here – this is the original story for the “princess and dragon” theme popular in stories)
- This is derived from Greek cet- meaning whale
- The root cet- appears in words like cetyl, spermaceti, cetin, and Cetorhinus
- Chamaeleon
- The constellation Chamaeleon is named for the animal of the same name
- Chamaeleon only contains one formally named star!
- This word contains the Greek root chamai (combining form chamae-) meaning low/ground and the Greek root leon meaning lion
- Chamai is the root in chamomile, Chamaesyce, chamaerrhine, and chamaeconch
- Leon shows up in leoncito, leonine, and leontiasis
- Corona Borealis
- This constellation translates to northern crown as it represents the crown given to Ariadne by Dionysus in some versions of the Greek myth of the Minotaur (you can read about the Minotaur here!)
- This comes from the Latin root corona meaning crown and the Latin Boreas meaning north wind (from the Greek god Boreas, master of the north wind)
- The root corona is in words like coronavirus, coronilla, couronne, coronary, and krone
- Boreas is in aurora borealis, borasca, and hyperborean
- Crux (only present in the unabridged dictionary)
- This constellation is made of four stars and quite literally forms the shape of a cross
- It is the smallest of all 88 constellations
- Crux is the Latin word for cross
- This root is present in Crucianella, crucifer, cruciverbalist, crusade, and hakenkreuz
- Monoceros
- This constellation is said to be a unicorn and comes from the Latin name for one
- 16 of the stars in Monoceros have been found to host planets!
- Monoceros is from Greek mono- meaning one and Greek keras (combining form -ceros) meaning horn, with both parts passing through Latin
- The root mono- appears in monosabio, acromonogrammatic, monoousian, monuron, and chrismon
- Keras is in rhinoceros, keratin, Aepyceros, Gymnocerata, and chelicera
- Taurus
- The constellation Taurus is said to look like a bull’s head–specifically, the head of the bull that kidnapped the Phoenician princess Europa in Greek mythology (here is the story of Europa)
- This word comes from tauros, the Greek word for bull
- Other words from tauros include taurokathapsia, taurobolium, Minotaur, tauromaquia, and Petaurista
If you’d like to go through the full lists of stars and constellations, I’ve linked it here. I hope you enjoy learning more about astronomy, and happy spelling!