Discussion Forum (Archived)
Guest
I've always used Earth to name the planet we live on, and earth to name the ground or dirt we stand on. Likewise Moon (for our moon) and moon for a generic planetary satellite. But lately I've been seeing the lower-case version of both online and in print. Same with Sun and sun.
Is there any "rule" about this capitalization, or is the "rule" changing? Ngram was useless and online searches were ambiguous.
This is totally off the cuff and I have absolutely no expertise in astronomy. In fact I feel like a beginning student lecturing the teachers when I try to answer Heimhenge and Jackie, but I am writing this out so that others can verify it or shoot it down. Here we go.
It seems you are using words that can be used both as proper nouns and generic nouns. I don't know how they used it in the articles you read. It is my understanding that almost every star is the sun of the solar system they inhabit, therefore there are many suns. This is a generic noun. I believe our sun's proper name is Sol, although rarely used, but often I think people use "The Sun" as a proper name.
Moon is also a generic noun when you are talking about the billions of moons circling the billions of planets in the universe. All of the moons close to us have their own proper names. Our moon's proper name is Luna but, like the Sun, I think people use "The Moon" as a proper name.
So I believe that the words sun and moon are capitalized, or not, depending on whether you are using them as proper names or generic nouns.
In non-scientific literature, low case is more common than up for sun, moon, earth:
He saw the sun low in the sky.
The moon emerges from behind the clouds.
He saw Venus, Jupiter and moon/the moon all high in the sky.
The stars look down on the sleeping earth.
Writing about our solar system, low case is still ok for sun,moon,earth, but no mixed cases:
Third from the Sun is the Earth.
Third from the sun is the earth.
The ancients identified 5 peripatetic objects: Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn, besides Sun and Moon.
The ancients identified 5 peripatetic objects: Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn, besides sun and moon.
The ancients identified 5 peripatetic objects: Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn, besides the Sun and the Moon.
The ancients identified 5 peripatetic objects: Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn, besides the sun and the moon.
Writing about space, suns and moons are low-cased; all named objects upper-cased:
Ours is one of at least 100 billion suns in the Milky Way.
Our Sun is one of at least 100 billion stars in the Milky Way.
The Moon is larger than Europa, the smallest of Jupiter's moons.
Yes, I understand about capitalization being determined by whether the word is a proper or common noun.
The trend I (and Jackie) have observed seems to disregard that distinction. The word "earth" is often not capitalized even when used as a proper noun. And I see this done in science magazines, like Discover. Could be a lack of education in science or language, but then you have to wonder: How did these people get to the point where they're writing for science magazines? It's easier to excuse the error in popular media, newspapers, etc. Maybe it's just sloppy editing.
Thanks for the feedback. Good to know the rules haven't changed.
The style guide I use, but did not cite in my post, is the Style Manual for Technical Writers and Editors put out by Lockheed in the 70s. According to that manual, this is all about proper vs. common nouns, as I said earlier. And my usage has been consistent with that guideline.
They do note some exceptions. For example: bunsen burner and diesel engine. Those terms contain what were originally proper nouns (names) but my manual claims the lowercase has been "sanctioned by usage."
I started this thread because I've been seeing exceptions in print and online for some time now, and was curious about the possibility of the "guidelines" having changed. I've actually thought about getting an updated style guide, but for tech writing, I don't expect much has changed.
This is what the Chicago manual (15th ed.) says:
Earth. In nontechnical contexts the word earth, in the sense of our planet is usually lowercased when preceded by the or in such idioms as "down to earch" or "move heaven and earth." When used as the proper name of our planet, especially in text with other planets, it is capitalized, and the is usually omitted.
Some still believe the earth is flat.
The gender accorded to the moon, the sun, and the earth varies in different mythologies.
Where on earth have you been?
The astronauts have returned successfully to Earth.
Mars, unlike Earth, has no atmosphere.(The Astrophysical Journal always capitalizes Earth, whether or not preceded by the.)
Sun and moon. The words sun and moon are usually lowercased in nontechnical contexts and always lowercased in the plural.
The moon circles the earth, as the earth circles the sun.
Some planets have several moons.In specialized contexts these words may be capitalized.
Gravitational interaction between our Galaxy's dark matter and the ordinary matter in Earth and the Moon might not fulfill the equivalence principle.
Solar neutrino experiments provide unique information about the interior of the Sun.
Associated Press (2002):
earth Generally lowercase; capitalize when used as the proper name of the planet. She is down to earth. How does the pattern apply to Mars, Jupiter, Earth, the sun and the moon? The astronauts returned to Earth. He hopes to move heaven and earth.
moon Lowercase.
sun Lowercase.
My company's style guide follows A.P. on this.
So I would sum up this way: Generally speaking, earth, and especially, sun and moon, are treated as common nouns. "The sun rises in the east." "This is the best beach on earth." Otherwise, it's not until you get into technical contexts or in situations in which other heavenly bodies are being referred to by proper name do you worry about treating them as capitalized proper names.
Although it's common in science fiction works from a certain era, I don't think it's accepted generally that in English the proper names are Terra, Luna, and Sol. Those are just the Latin names.
Can I offer my post above as a style guide? What that requires is a body of descriptivist data to support it, which frankly is not my pay grade. I feel very confident of it though, enough to feel that the burden to support it is not even on me, rather that the burden is on the counter-point.
Thanks AnMa, your post came in just ahead of this, and it looks like the way I always thought these things should be.
Given my citations above, I think the burden is shifted. The proposition that earth must be capitalized when referring to the planet is one limited to those operating under style guidelines specific to certain technical fields. And I doubt that this is any kind of recent change. More likely it's a case of your having just recently noticed or having forgotten past usage.
I would certainly consider it odd to see these in common usage:
Isn't the full Moon beautiful tonight?
Be careful on your commute this morning; there's a lot of glare from the Sun in eastbound lanes.
Water covers three quarters of the surface of the Earth.
No, I don't think so, not for nontechnical uses.
This has been a LOT of feedback on what I presumed was a pretty basic question. Seems like the consensus is to do whatever the applicable style guide says one should do.
Still, I like the idea of capitalizing Earth (the planet), Sun (ours) and Moon (ours) as a sort of deferential homage. After all, these are three very special objects. I suppose Grant would call that a prescriptivist approach. Not like I'm in any position to act as an authority on the matter, but that's my story and I'm sticking to it. 🙂
I don't see that usage much different from Nature, Universe, and God being capitalized when used in a first-person sense. And Carl Sagan did that.
Heimhenge said
Still, I like the idea of capitalizing Earth (the planet), Sun (ours) and Moon (ours) as a sort of deferential homage. After all, these are three very special objects. I suppose Grant would call that a prescriptivist approach. Not like I'm in any position to act as an authority on the matter, but that's my story and I'm sticking to it. 🙂I don't see that usage much different from Nature, Universe, and God being capitalized when used in a first-person sense. And Carl Sagan did that.
So what would you say about my italicized examples in post No. 12?
AnMa, I'm OK with your last two italicized examples, but then, I tend to err on the side of capitalizing Sun, Earth and Moon for reasons explained in my post 14.
Your first example is interesting. The word "full" is, strictly speaking, an adjective. But when combined with "Moon" it's also the name of a lunar phase. In that case, I'd probably go with "Full Moon" to distinguish it from other uses. For example: The full Moon's mass must be used for orbital calculations, even when it's phase shows only a crescent. ("full" = "whole" or "entire")
But I'd also have to accept "full moon" simply because of usage I'm seeing elsewhere (which is what started this whole thread). For example, here's an excellent website I often refer people to: http://www.moonconnection.com/moon_phases.phtml
If you scroll down that page, you'll see all the lunar phases listed in lowercase. Accepting the descriptivist approach, I'd have to admit this usage is more common (for lunar phases at least).
I guess what I'm still unclear about is whether "Full Moon" is actually a proper noun like, say, "Jupiter." The distinction between nouns, proper nouns, and names can get a little fuzzy sometimes. See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proper_noun
Just as a point of clarification, which usage are you "okay" with (now that I look at it, my post seems a bit ambiguous):
A:
Isn't the full moon beautiful tonight?
Be careful on your commute this morning; there's a lot of glare from the sun in eastbound lanes.
Water covers three quarters of the surface of the earth.
B:
Isn't the full Moon beautiful tonight?
Be careful on your commute this morning; there's a lot of glare from the Sun in eastbound lanes.
Water covers three quarters of the surface of the Earth.
I would prefer the usage in Group A. Group B looks weird to me.
Not ambiguous at all, AnMa. So I guess I was referring to group B above. Maybe now you can better appreciate my response.
Bottom line ... you and I apparently prefer different usages. And I still think it ultimately comes down to the fuzziness between nouns, proper nouns, and names. According to that Wiki article I cited (which has a high page rating), even linguists disagree on this issue.
Sorry if I seem to be muddying the waters here, but Im probably a descriptivist at heart.
Martha Barnette
Grant Barrett
Grant Barrett
1 Guest(s)