Star Names

First edition title page

Author| Richard Hickney Allen
Publisher| G. E. Stechert

Publication date

| 1899

Short description: Book by Richard Hinckley Allen

Star-Names and Their Meanings (retitled Star Names: Their Lore and Meaning in some later reprints) is an 1899 book by Richard Hinckley Allen,[1] that discusses the names of stars, constellations, and their histories.[not verified in body]

## Contents

* 1 Background and authorship
* 2 Content
* 3 Reception
* 4 Further reading
* 5 See also
* 6 References
* 7 External links

## Background and authorship

Richard Hinckley Allen (1838, near Buffalo, New York – 1908, Northampton, Massachusetts) was a youthful polymath with interests in "nature, astronomy, ornithology, and literature" whom his classmates described as "the walking encyclopedia"; after a college year spent at Yale, a pursuit abandoned because of problems with his eyesight, he traveled and then "joined his father’s export trade business". Allen's interest in astronomy, and in star names in particular, may have been stimulated by his coming across such a name with which he was unfamiliar, after which "[h]e spent many years researching astronomical nomenclature... primarily for personal enjoyment". With the encouragement of professors from Yale and Princeton, and from personal friends, Allen proceeded to publish the information he had gathered—as Star-Names and Their Meanings in 1899.[2][1]

## Content

First published in 1899 as Star-Names and Their Meanings,[1] this work collected the origins of the names of stars and constellations from a panoply of sources, some primary but most secondary. It also briefly retells the various myths and folklore connected with stars in the Greco-Roman tradition, as well as in the Arabic, Babylonian, Indian and Chinese traditions (for which, however, some modern criticism[who?]{{citation needed|date=March 2025} it to be largely superseded).[citation needed] The book also provides some cursory details about astronomy, at the knowledge level of the end of the 19th century. Similarly, astrology and its history are dealt with briefly in the introduction,{{citation needed|date=March 2025} references (although downplayed) are scattered throughout the book.[citation needed]

## Reception

Late historian of astronomy Paul Kunitzsch[3] notes that the "book may be taken as a handbook summing up the state of knowledge arrived at by his time," but that to standards current to his 1979 publication, it was generally unreliable with regard to star names and their derivations.[4] Science fiction writers/editors Algis Budrys and Frederik Pohl called Star Names "a fine book (but hardly 'hammock reading')", in a 1965 review.[5] In an assessment by amateur classicist Bill Thayer,[6] the book was presented as mostly accurate in its explanations of Greek and Latin star names, although containing minor historical errors, and overestimates of the age of some Greek temples.[7] It was also criticised with regard to star names by Gary D. Thompson, an amateur astronomer who maintains its discussion of Arabic, Mesopotamian, and Egyptian constellations and star names are likewise especially unreliable.[8]

## Further reading

* Kunitzsch, Paul; Smart, Tim (1986). Short Guide to Modern Star Names. Wiesbaden, Germany: O. Harrassowitz. ISBN 9783447025805. https://books.google.com/books?id=5th-AAAAIAAJ. Retrieved 14 March 2025.
* Kunitzsch, Paul; Smart, Tim (2006). A Dictionary of Modern Star Names: A Short Guide to 254 Star Names and Their Derivations (2nd ed.). Cambridge, MA: AAS Sky Publishing Corporation. ISBN 9781931559447. https://books.google.com/books?id=XVspPwAACAAJ. Retrieved 14 March 2025.
* Ridpath, Ian (2018). Star Tales (Revised, expanded ed.). Cambridge, England: Lutterworth Press. ISBN 9780718847814. https://books.google.com/books?id=7dXYDwAAQBAJ. Retrieved 14 March 2025. This book's subject area is described as literary criticism.

## See also

* History of the constellations

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 See, for instance, Allen, Richard Hinckley (1899). Star-Names and Their Meanings (first ed.). New York, NY: G.E. Stecher. https://archive.org/details/starnamesandthe00allegoog/page/n9/mode/1up. Retrieved 14 March 2025. and the reprint, Allen, Richard Hinckley (1963). Star Names—Their Lore and Meaning (reprint ed.). Garden City, NY: Dover Books [G.E. Stecher]. ISBN 9780486210797. https://books.google.com/books?id=l8V2DY3tQMgC. Retrieved 14 March 2025. "Originally published as Star-Names and Their Meanings..." A version of the book is available via Bill Thayer's LacusCurtius, in its Gazetteer, "Caelum Antiquum: Ancient Astronomy and Astrology Resources...", in the section entitled Richard Hinckley Allen: Star Names —Their Lore and Meaning, provided via Penelope.UChicago.edu, accessed same date as above.
2. ↑ Fuchs, Jim (August 2003). "Richard Hinckley Allen Biography". Filling the Sky: The Modern Constellations (1st ed.). privately published. p. 184. ISBN 0974439711. https://www.modernconstellations.com/Docs/PDF/RHAllen/rhallenbio.pdf. Retrieved 14 March 2024. Please note the reliable sources appearing at the prior cited page (Gascoigne 1986, AAAS Staff 1908, Morris 1906). The book is listed as having been spiral bound with 196 pages, and as having had the alternative ISBN numbers 0974439703 and 9780974439709.
3. ↑ Van Dalen, Benno (2020–2021). "In Memoriam: Paul Kunitzsch". Suhayl 18: 277–284. http://www.bennovandalen.de/Publications/van-Dalen-Lorch-2020
Paul-Kunitzsch-In-Memoriam--Memories-and-List-of-publications.pdf. Retrieved 14 March 2025. Per this source, Van Dalen is a member of the Bavarian Academy of Sciences and Humanities.
4. ↑ Kunitzsch, Paul (1979). "A Note on Star Names, especially Arabic, and their Literature". Quarterly Journal of the Royal Astronomical Society 20: 478–480. Bibcode: 1979QJRAS..20..478K. https://articles.adsabs.harvard.edu/pdf/1979QJRAS..20..478K. Retrieved 14 March 2025.
5. ↑ Budrys, Algis; Pohl, Frederik (April 1965). "Galaxy Bookshelf". Galaxy Science Fiction: 137–145. https://archive.org/stream/Galaxy_v23n04_1965-04#page/n137/mode/2up.
6. ↑ Thayer, Bill (March 2025). "Credentials" (component webpage). Chicago, IL: Bill Thayer and The University of Chicago. https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/HELP/credentials.html.
7. ↑ Thayer, Bill (March 2025). "Richard Hinckley Allen—Star Names: Their Lore and Meaning; Assessment" (component webpage). Chicago, IL: Bill Thayer and The University of Chicago. http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/e/gazetteer/topics/astronomy/_texts/secondary/allsta/home.html.
8. ↑ Thompson, Gary D[avid] (September 27, 2011). "Richard Allen's Star-Names: Their Lore and Meaning" (personal blogpost). WestNet.com.au. http://members.westnet.com.au/gary-david-thompson/page11-36.html. Further contributions from Thompson can be found, linked, at that website. The attribution of "amateur" in the text description arises from failure to find any self-stated or other affiliations for the author of these contributions (alongside the same online characterisation of this contributor).

## External links

* Allen's Star Names at LacusCurtius

0.00

(0 votes)

Original source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star Names. Read more

|

Retrieved from "https://handwiki.org/wiki/index.php?title=Astronomy:Star_Names&oldid=4286529"