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Riddle answer
May. 15th, 2004 09:45 amThe Arabic 'yad-al-jauza' means "hand of (the) jauza". Jauza is a female name, which the Arabs used for the constellation we know as Gemini - hence, 'the female twin'.
The Arabic letter 'ya' is very similar to 'ba', and so when the word was transliterated into Latin it became 'bad-al-jauza', and thence 'Bedalgeuse', which is how it stayed for several hundred years.
During the Renaissance a bunch of scholars trying to figure out the origin of the word recognised that there had been a transliteration error, and attempted to fix it. They tried to figure out what the original Arabic would have been, and guessed that the first word should have been 'bat', meaning 'armpit', because the star in question is in the shoulder of Orion. Hence, "Betelgeuse", which is of course red.
In fact, the Arabic for 'armpit' is not 'bat' but 'ibt', but since Arabic is usually written without vowels it's a very easy mistake to make. A little knowledge is a dangerous thing.
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wingedkami and mdrnprometheus were on the right track :-)
The Arabic letter 'ya' is very similar to 'ba', and so when the word was transliterated into Latin it became 'bad-al-jauza', and thence 'Bedalgeuse', which is how it stayed for several hundred years.
During the Renaissance a bunch of scholars trying to figure out the origin of the word recognised that there had been a transliteration error, and attempted to fix it. They tried to figure out what the original Arabic would have been, and guessed that the first word should have been 'bat', meaning 'armpit', because the star in question is in the shoulder of Orion. Hence, "Betelgeuse", which is of course red.
In fact, the Arabic for 'armpit' is not 'bat' but 'ibt', but since Arabic is usually written without vowels it's a very easy mistake to make. A little knowledge is a dangerous thing.
Both
wingedkami and mdrnprometheus were on the right track :-)
