Earth & SkyGreek → English
Selenography
/ˌsɛlɪˈnɒɡrəfi/noun
The mapping and description of the moon's surface features.
The Greek roots
σελήνη
selḗnē
moon
γράφω
gráphō
to write, describe
Literally: “moon description”
The story of the word
Johannes Hevelius published Selenographia in 1647 with plates he engraved himself, naming lunar features after earthly mountains and seas. Riccioli's rival scheme of 1651 won the argument, which is why craters carry the names of astronomers and the dark plains are still called seas. Berzelius named selenium after the same moon in 1817, because he found it alongside tellurium, which had been named after the earth.
- How it travelled
- Ancient Greek → scientific coinage → English
- First recorded
- 17th century
Same family
seleniumselenologygeographyphotograph
In a sentence
Amateur selenography was serious science until the orbiters made it decorative.