Does the Name of Mars Reflect its Ancient Oceans?

[baywax]

Of course, by now, you've seen the stories about Mar's past oceanic environment.

http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20070613/mars_study_070613/20070613?hub=TopStories

What I have noticed is that the word Mar as in the Spanish or Latin "Del Mar" (of the sea), means ocean. In other cases, Mars is associated with the god war and "Mar" has made its way into the word "Martial". But the name for the red planet is strikingly similar to the latin word for Ocean. And yesterday, as can be read in the above article, it was further confirmed that Mars had oceans at one point in her history. I realize that astrophysicists maintain the oceans must have been present "billions" of years ago. But, if the name of Mars actually describes her oceans, who named it? Who observed the oceans of Mars in our history or pre-history?

If this sort of question belongs in History or Humanities or the trash, please feel free re-direct at your leasure.

 

[Janus]

Mars was named after the God of War due to its reddish appearance. Red is the color of blood.

 

[baywax]

Mars was named after the God of War due to its reddish appearance. Red is the color of blood.

Thank you Janus. So, its just a coincidence that Mars or Mar means ocean in Latin? Is there anyway that Mars could have lost its oceans sometime during the last, say, 15,000 years? This would mean its name sake, oceans, would have been lost, but the name stuck. The red color could then have been attributed to war and blood in the same way the incongruent name "oceans" or "mars" would be attributed to the god of war.

 

[nrqed]

Of course, by now, you've seen the stories about Mar's past oceanic environment.

http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20070613/mars_study_070613/20070613?hub=TopStories

What I have noticed is that the word Mar as in the Spanish or Latin "Del Mar" (of the sea), means ocean. In other cases, Mars is associated with the god war and "Mar" has made its way into the word "Martial". But the name for the red planet is strikingly similar to the latin word for Ocean. And yesterday, as can be read in the above article, it was further confirmed that Mars had oceans at one point in her history. I realize that astrophysicists maintain the oceans must have been present "billions" of years ago. But, if the name of Mars actually describes her oceans, who named it? Who observed the oceans of Mars in our history or pre-history?

If this sort of question belongs in History or Humanities or the trash, please feel free re-direct at your leasure.

As Janus mentioned, it was named after the God of war. It has nothing to do with the "sea" latin root (which gives "mer" or "marée" for "tides" in French). On the other hand, the "maria" of the Moon were labelled this way in reference to the fact that they look like "seas".

 

[baywax]

As Janus mentioned, it was named after the God of war. It has nothing to do with the "sea" latin root (which gives "mer" or "marée" for "tides" in French). On the other hand, the "maria" of the Moon were labelled this way in reference to the fact that they look like "seas".

Ah, thank you! And I thought I had something here.

On the other hand, cool story about Mars

 

[russ_watters]

Is there anyway that Mars could have lost its oceans sometime during the last, say, 15,000 years? This would mean its name sake, oceans, would have been lost, but the name stuck. The red color could then have been attributed to war and blood in the same way the incongruent name "oceans" or "mars" would be attributed to the god of war.

That makes no logical sense whatsoever. The earliest known naming of Mars was 6,000 years ago, by the Babylonians, who named it the same way (different word, very similar meaning). You seem to be implying that it would have had an ocean that the Romans would have known about, giving it their namef for "sea". Then the ocean disappeared sometime in the last 1,500 (not 15,000) years, leaving the color red and the coincidentally similar Roman name.

In any case, good historical record exists of this, so there is no need for such speculation.

Mars is named after the Roman god of war. In Babylonian astronomy, the planet was named after Nergal, their deity of fire, war, and destruction, most likely due to the planet's reddish appearance.[79] When the Greeks equated Nergal with their god of war, Ares, they named the planet Ἄρεως ἀστἡρ (Areos aster), or "star of Ares". Then, following the identification of Ares and Mars, it was translated into Latin as stella Martis, or "star of Mars", or simply Mars. The Greeks also called the planet Πυρόεις Pyroeis meaning "fiery". In Hindu mythology, Mars is known as Mangala (मंगल). The planet is also called Angaraka in Sanskrit, after the celibate god of war, who possesses the signs of Aries and Scorpio, and teaches the occult sciences. The planet was known by the Egyptians as "Ḥr Dšr";;;; or "Horus the Red". The Hebrews named it Ma'adim (מאדים)—"the one who blushes"; this is where one of the largest canyons on Mars, the Ma'adim Vallis, gets its name. It is known as al-Mirrikh in both Arabic and Persian, and Merih in Turkish. The etymology of al-Mirrikh is unknown. Ancient Persians named it Bahram, the Zoroastrian god of faith. Ancient Turks called it Sakit. The Chinese, Japanese, Korean and Vietnamese cultures refer to the planet as 火星, or the fire star, a name based on the ancient Chinese mythological cycle of Five elements.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mars

 

[baywax]

That makes no logical sense whatsoever. The earliest known naming of Mars was 6,000 years ago, by the Babylonians, who named it the same way (different word, very similar meaning). You seem to be implying that it would have had an ocean that the Romans would have known about, giving it their namef for "sea". Then the ocean disappeared sometime in the last 1,500 (not 15,000) years, leaving the color red and the coincidentally similar Roman name.

In any case, good historical record exists of this, so there is no need for such speculation. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mars

Thanks Russ. It was an honest question that I've never been able to answer myself. The article you've dug up is fantastic in detail.

I'll keep any further "martian' speculation off of PF.

 

[Chronos]

It's all greek to me.

 

[baywax]

It's all greek to me.

Actually the word/name Mars was adopted by the Romans from the Chaldean word "Mar" which means "rebel".

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chaldean_Dynasty

Chaldean language in old references may refer to the Urartian language

Urartian is the conventional name for the language spoken by the inhabitants of the ancient kingdom of Urartu in Northeast Anatolia (present-day Turkey), in the region of Lake Van.

The Chaldean language is "neo-Babylonian" It is also known as a Urartian language which in turn belongs to a family of languages (not necessarily related) called Agglutinative languages.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agglutinative_language

Just a bit of follow up, thank you!

 

[D H]

It's all greek to me.

The Greeks called Mars Ares, of course. That name is retained in the name of a star with a similar color to Mars -- Antares (which means "not Ares", of course).