# Moon and month



## sufler

Hello!
I noticed that in many languages the words for "month" and "moon" are very similar or just the same? Any ideas why?

Indonesian: bulan - bulan
Belorussian: месяц - месяц
Chinese: 月亮 - 月
Croatian: mjesec - mjesec
Czech: měsíc - měsíc
Danish: måne - måned
Estonian: Kuu - kuu
Filipino: buwan - buwan
Turkish: Ay - ay

and many others...


----------



## Welshie

Many calendars are lunar - based on the time it takes the moon to complete one rotation of the earth: 28 days (roughly).


----------



## Alxmrphi

I looked in etymonline and that said that the English word *month *is related to (derived from?) the word for *moon*, I didn't know that! Interesting.



> O.E. monað, from P.Gmc. *mænoth- (O.N. manaðr, M.Du. manet, Du. maand, O.H.G. manod, Ger. Monat, Goth. menoþs "month"), related to *mænon- "moon" (see moon). Its cognates mean only "month" in the Romance languages, but in Gmc. generally continue to do double duty. Phrase a month of Sundays "a very long time" is from 1832 (roughly 7 and a half months, but never used literally).


----------



## sakvaka

sufler said:


> and many others...



Something more to your list:

*Finnish*. _kuu vs. kuukausi_

"Kuukausi" means literally "moon season/period". 

However, _this month_, _next month_ etc. are translated as _tässä kuussa, ensi kuussa_, and *not* *_tässä kuukaudessa, *ensi kuukaudessa_.


----------



## Tjahzi

Heh, in *Swedish* the names are not identical _måne(n) _and _månad_ - _(the) moon_ and _month_. However, I did for some reason know very well that the origin of the month was the time it takes for the moon to rotate around the earth.


----------



## francisgranada

Hungarian

*hold* (moon)
*hó* (month)
*hónap* (month, lit. "moonday" i.e. a day of the moon)

(related to the Finnish and Estonian _kuu_)


----------



## Maroseika

*Mongolian:*
сар [sar] - moon, month


*Ossetyan:*
мæй [may] - moon, month

*Tajik:*
моҳ [moh'] - moon, month



*Mordovian:*
kov - moon, month (cf. Finnish and Hungarian)



*Yakutian: *
ый [yi] - moon, month 

*Chuvashian*
уйӑх [uyah] - moon, month


*Chechen* 
бут [but] - moon, month


*Georgean* (not sure but think they are congnates)
მთვარე [mtvare] - moon
თვე [tve] - month


----------



## apmoy70

Add Greek in your list too:
Month is «μήν» (mēn _m._), «μήνας» ('minas _m._ in Modern Greek), from archaic «μήνη» ('mēnē _f._), the moon, from PIE root *mḗh₁n̥s, _moon, month_


----------



## J.F. de TROYES

Welshie gives the reason why so various languages use the same noun for  _moon_  and _month _.  It's the same in Burmese :  လ la' ,  mwezi  in Swahili,  killa in Quechua , and these languages belong to unrelated families. In Arabic the usual words are different  قمر   (qamar ) and   شهر   (shahr), but this last word also refers to the new moon and is even used for _honey moon_ !


----------



## berndf

Alxmrphi said:


> I looked in etymonline and that said that the English word *month *is related to (derived from?) the word for *moon*, I didn't know that! Interesting.


Really? I am bewildered. I always regarded it as an absolute matter of course the word _month_ meant _cycle of the moon_. Are the words _moon_ and _month_ in English so far apart that people don't connect them? I would never have guessed that. In my language at least, the connection between_ Mond_ and _Monat_ is completely obvious.


----------



## Alxmrphi

berndf said:


> Really? I am bewildered. I always regarded it as an absolute matter of course the word _month_ meant _cycle of the moon_. Are the words _moon_ and _month_ in English so far apart that people don't connect them? In my language at least, the connection between_ Mond_ and _Monat_ is completely obvious.



I don't believe they would.
Compared to a lot of people (that aren't interested in interrelationships between languages or linguistics in general like I am), I think I have a sharper eye to make connections like this, but I wouldn't have thought of that in a million years.


----------



## berndf

Alxmrphi said:


> I don't believe they would.
> Compared to a lot of people (that aren't interested in interrelationships between languages or linguistics in general like I am), I think I have a sharper eye to make connections like this, but I wouldn't have thought of that in a million years.


Thank you Alex. What breaks the connection in English. Is is the long vs. short "o"? Is then also the connection between _Monday _and _Moon _not obvious to an English speaker?


----------



## Alxmrphi

berndf said:


> Thank you Alex. What breaks the connection in English. Is is the long vs. short "o"? Is then also the connection between _Monday _and _Moon _not obvious to an English speaker?



We're all taught about _Monday _being from Moon-day, so for those who remember then it's still obvious, but I imagine a lot of people don't remember little facts like this. If it makes an impression it sticks in your mind, which is what happened to me when I heard about it, reason being because it was so obvious _once someone tells you_ (i.e. beforehand connection is not intuitive).

About why it's not the same, it could be due to the distinction in the sounds, but we've also got lots and lots of similar words that look similar to these. The ones that come to mind right now are:

_moon mood moan month moth mouth math_

So I think if you're used to a lot of words having a different significance and are different by such a small change in the letters/sounds then similarities are often lost because otherwise you'd assume there were connections between similar words but with different letters, like in the list above. If however these two words were fairly distinct in the language, like maybe _stramkoon_ and_ stramkoth_ or something like that then there is less of a phonological load on the diverging phonemes so then it becomes impossible to not see a connection, like with _symptathy_ and _sympathise_.

But that same situation could be the same in German, and you are aware of it and see it as intuitive. The question would then be what is the situation for non-language trained people to see if the connection is obvious. It'd be interesting to see if it's the case.


----------



## Montesacro

Alxmrphi said:


> The question would then be what is the situation for non-language trained people to see if the connection is obvious. It'd be interesting to see if it's the case.



I, as a non-native speaker, would never have thought of a connection between moon and month.
I mean, I don't consider it obvious, certainly because in my native languages the words for moon and month are not related (though, to be fair, _luna_ can be rhetorically used as a countable noun to mean "month").


----------



## TitTornade

Welshie said:


> Many calendars are lunar - based on the time it takes the moon to complete one rotation of the earth: 28 days (roughly).


 
Hi,
To be more precise, the duration between two full moons is around 29 1/2 days : this corresponds to a lunar month, i.e. moon's synodic period.
This duration is used for months in the purely lunar calendars as the Islamic calendar or in the luni-solar calendars, as the Hebrew calendar.
The gregorian calendar is not really lunar, but a solar calendar; but it keeps the approximate duration of the lunar revolution to define the months !

Else, the moon makes a revolution (not exactly a rotation...) around the Earth in 27 1/3 days (this is moon's sideral period).

If many languages connect "moon" and "month", it is not the case in French (Moon = Lune and month = mois). Why ?
But in litterature, we can use "lune" as a synonym of "mois" !


----------



## Hulalessar

TitTornade said:


> If many languages connect "moon" and "month", it is not the case in French (Moon = Lune and month = mois).



"Mois" is ultimately derived from a word meaning "moon".

http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Appendix:Proto-Indo-European/mḗh₁n̥s


----------



## rayloom

J.F. de TROYES said:


> Welshie gives the reason why so various languages use the same noun for  _moon_  and _month _.  It's the same in Burmese :  လ la' ,  mwezi  in Swahili,  killa in Quechua , and these languages belong to unrelated families. In Arabic the usual words are different  قمر   (qamar ) and   شهر   (shahr), but this last word also refers to the new moon and is even used for _honey moon_ !



Actually in Arabic, shahr (month) also means moon.

From Lisan al-3arab (a dictionary):
والشَّهْرُ القَمَر
al-shahr is the moon

Also from مقاييس اللغة (another dictionary).
الشَّهر، وهو في كلام العرب الهِلال
al-shahr, in the language of the Arabs, is the crescent (moon)

In Hebrew, the cognate סהר is also a word for the moon.

And in some other ancient Semitic languages, the word used to mean month and moon was the same. (OSA wrkh, Ugaritic yrkh).
Not sure if Hebrew cognate ירח was used to mean month as well.


----------



## berndf

Hulalessar said:


> "Mois" is ultimately derived from a word meaning "moon".
> 
> http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Appendixroto-Indo-European/m%E1%B8%97h%E2%82%81n%CC%A5s


Or possibly the other way round:
According to the list you quoted, French _mois_ (< Latin_ mensis_) as well as English _Moon _and _month _contain the PIE base _*me- = to measure_ while  French _lune_ (< Latin _luna_) contains the base _*lewk-/*leuk- = light, bright, to shine_.



rayloom said:


> Not sure if Hebrew cognate ירח was used to mean month as well.


According to Morfix in literary Hebrew: yes. The normal word for month is חֹדֶשׁ  (_khodesh_; modern pronunciation) from חָדָשׁ (khadash) = _new_. In the Hebrew calendar (as in the Islamic one) the month starts with new Moon.


----------



## origumi

rayloom said:


> Actually in Arabic, shahr (month) also means moon.
> 
> Not sure if Hebrew cognate ירח was used to mean month as well.


In Hebrew _sahar_ סהר (cognate of Arabic _shahr_) is the moon, literally meaning "an object of crescent shape", but is not related to month. The more common word for moon is _yareakh_. Month is _khodesh_, literally meaning "new" or "renew", to describe the month days counting that starts with the new moon, or the moon behavior that renews itself every month. There's a less common word for month _yerakh_.

Therefore, like in many languages listed above, originally Hebrew had the same word for moon and month, of root y-r-kh (which may have been earlier w-r-kh). However, one of the words kept developing with the language, while the other remained frozen (or developed in a different speed/direction), so today (that is, the last 3000 years) we have _yareakh_ vs. _yerakh _= moon vs. month, both are spelled ירח.

To prove that _yareakh _and _yerakh _come from the same point - there's a place near the Lake of Galilee where the moon was worshiped in pagan times. It's called _beit yerakh_ = "house of the moon". In this name, the word _yerakh_ clearly refers to the moon while sounds like the word for month.


----------



## Arrius

J.F. de TROYES said:


> Welshie gives the reason why so various languages use the same noun for _moon_ and _month _. It's the same in Burmese : လ la' , mwezi in Swahili, killa in Quechua , and these languages belong to unrelated families. In Arabic the usual words are different قمر (qamar ) and شهر (shahr), but this last word also refers to the new moon and is even used for _honey moon_ !


 
It is indeed odd that the Arabic words for moon and month are etymologically unconnected seeing that the moon plays so important a part in Islam and its lunar calendar. However, *هِلَال* (_hilaal_) not _shahr_ is the word used in Modern Standard Arabic for the new moon, as well known a term now as kosher to most Europeans, and *بَدْر* (badr) is the full moon. As for honeymoon, that is not just _shahr _but شَهْرُ العَسَل , شَهْرُ عَسَل
(shahr 3asl/shahr al3asl), literally month of (the) honey.
Odd too, that one earlier poster had never noticed the similarity of moon and month. though he must have seen a B western in which an "indian" chief proclaimed to the hero in the white hat "You return two moons". 
The Latin _luna_ (moon) is also unconnected with _mensis_ (month), which latter gives us the word_ menstruation_, connected in some mysterious way with the lunar cycle.
However, I can point out that in Cinyanja, another Bantu language, _mwezi_, the same word as in Swahili, also serves for both month and moon, and in Afrikaans, _maan _(moon) and _maand_ (month) have the same derivation.


----------



## rayloom

Arrius said:


> It is indeed odd that the Arabic words for moon and month are etymologically unconnected seeing that the moon plays so important a part in Islam and its lunar calendar. However, *هِلَال* (_hilaal_) not _shahr_ is the word used in Modern Standard Arabic for the new moon, as well known a term now as kosher to most Europeans, and *بَدْر* (badr) is the full moon. As for honeymoon, that is not just _shahr _but شَهْرُ العَسَل , شَهْرُ عَسَل
> (shahr 3asl/shahr al3asl), literally month of (the) honey.



Not completely odd I believe.
Words develop and acquire new meanings.

Qamar probably began and continued to be used for the physical heavenly body, the moon. While, shahr, started off by referring to the crescent, the new moon/month, and continued to be used to refer to the month, while it's original meaning remains only to be found in old literature and the dictionaries. 

And in the context of referring to months, Hilaal, lit. crescent, nowadays is barely used outside the context of Hilaal Ramadan, the crescent of Ramadan, signifying the start of the holy month. (also used for hilaal shawwaal, the month after Ramadan, signifying the end of the month).

While on the other hand, other words have completely withered away. Wrkh, discussed before, was used in Epigraphic North Arabian to mean month, along with shahr. Shahr survives to this very day as the word for month in Classical Arabic, MSA and the dialects. While wrkh only survives as a root meaning 'to date', and in other derived words.


----------



## artion

Arrius said:


> The Latin _luna_ (moon) is also unconnected with _mensis_ (month), which latter gives us the word_ menstruation_, connected in some mysterious way with the lunar cycle.


What is mysterious? The duration of the menstrual cycle approximates that of  the lunar month. I won't mention the magic-mythic relations between woman and moon as they will characterise it "off topic". However, I will dare to inform you that the vulgar Gr. word for vulva is _muni_ (the Gr. for month is μην).


----------



## Walshie79

Alxmrphi said:


> We're all taught about _Monday _being from Moon-day, so for those who remember then it's still obvious, but I imagine a lot of people don't remember little facts like this. If it makes an impression it sticks in your mind, which is what happened to me when I heard about it, reason being because it was so obvious _once someone tells you_ (i.e. beforehand connection is not intuitive).
> 
> About why it's not the same, it could be due to the distinction in the sounds, but we've also got lots and lots of similar words that look similar to these. The ones that come to mind right now are:
> 
> _moon mood moan month moth mouth math_
> 
> So I think if you're used to a lot of words having a different significance and are different by such a small change in the letters/sounds then similarities are often lost because otherwise you'd assume there were connections between similar words but with different letters, like in the list above. If however these two words were fairly distinct in the language, like maybe _stramkoon_ and_ stramkoth_ or something like that then there is less of a phonological load on the diverging phonemes so then it becomes impossible to not see a connection, like with _symptathy_ and _sympathise_.
> 
> But that same situation could be the same in German, and you are aware of it and see it as intuitive. The question would then be what is the situation for non-language trained people to see if the connection is obvious. It'd be interesting to see if it's the case.



Even the phrase "many moons ago" doesn't twig the connection for people in general. I think with "Monday" there's also the fact that it comes after "Sunday"; if a year was called a "sunth" the connection between "month" and "moon" would be much clearer!

Do French people see the connection between "lundi" and "lune" without being told about it? Like "month" and "moon" they have different vowel sounds, and the French for Sunday isn't derived from the word for "sun".


----------



## berndf

Alxmrphi said:


> But that same situation could be the same in German, and you are aware of it and see it as intuitive. The question would then be what is the situation for non-language trained people to see if the connection is obvious. It'd be interesting to see if it's the case.


I am quite sure it is not my personal background but shared intuition by most German speakers. Maybe the connection is stronger because
_Mon-d (moon)
Mon-at (month)
Mon-tag (Monday)_
all contain _Mon-_ which is not only spelled but also pronounced the same [mo:n-] in all three words.


----------



## Kangy

There's no such direct relationship between moon and month in Spanish.

moon = luna
month = mes

The closest relationship I can track without racking my brains too much is the origin of _mes_ (month) from Greek:



apmoy70 said:


> Add Greek in your list too:
> Month is «μήν» (mēn _m._), «μήνας» ('minas _m._ in Modern Greek), from archaic «μήνη» ('mēnē _f._), the moon, from PIE root *mḗh₁n̥s, _moon, month_



You might not know that Spanish originated from Latin, which in turn had received enormous influence from Greek.


----------



## Josh_

It is interesting the word for 'moon' and 'month' in so many languages is derived from the same source (although it makes makes sense as the regular cycle of the moon is a natural division of time).

That said, it appears, however, that in some cases the ultimate reasoning behind this naming has varied within certain cultures.

As far as PIE based languages the words for moon are from "_*me(n)ses-_ "moon, month...probably from base _*me- _"to measure," in ref. to the moon's phases as the measure of time." (From the entry for 'moon' at Etymonline.com).

In Arabic, شهر (_shahr_) does not have to do with measurement, per se. It comes from the root ش-ه-ر (sh-h-r) which has to do with "making apparent." so the moon, or rather new moon, is so termed because it becomes apparent at the beginning of each lunar cycle (thus indicating the beginning of the new month).

Likewise, the word القمر (_al-qamar_) the most common word for 'moon' nowadays, is also not related to a measurement of time. Rather al-qamar was so termed due to its color أقمر (_aqmar_) -- white, inclining towards green (perhaps with some dark spots in it). 

In sum, the PIE based word seem to have come about due to the natural measurement of time that the moon represented to these ancient people(s). To the ancient Arabs, on the other hand, it appears that the naming of the moon came about due to some physical characteristic thereof. 

In terms of measurement, _qamar_ (named for the physical color of the moon) has no obvious relation. With _shahr_, however, there is a connection -- the physical appearance of the moon at the beginning of each new lunar cycle represented a regular interval of time. Thus _shahr_ ended up becoming the Arabic word for month, whereas _qamar_ did not.

Also interesting is that the verb قَمِرَ (_qamira_)(which comes from the same root as _qamar_, _q-m-r_) means "to become (temporarily) blinded or dazzled by the light of the moon" and also "to become snowblind." In fact one of the meanings of قمر (_qamar_) is 'snowblindness' or 'moonblindness'. This verb and its verbal noun and not really used nowadays (as far as I can tell).

On a side note, there is an English language novel entitled "The Snowblind Moon." Considering that both the words for 'snowblind' and 'moon' come from the same Arabic root, I thought it mildly amusing to consider what an Arabic translation of that title would look like. In fact I mused over that many moons ago in this thread here.


----------



## Arrius

The mathematical term _mensuration_ which used to make naughty little schoolboys giggle in class, bears out the connection between the cycle of the moon and measuring.
The verb _yashhur_ (to be famous) and adjective _shahiir_ (famous) with the connotation of being obvious, well known, help one to understand _shahr_: what in the night sky is more obvious or prominent  than the moon? 
However, _aqmar_ (a less frequent word for white), it seems logical to me, must take its meaning from _qamar_ (moon/satellite) especially since the former is in the comparative form, not vice versa.
But, it is not easy to find some connection with the verb _qamara_ (to gamble) from the same root, unless the idea linking the two is that the game goes round the circle of players. (Gambling is, of course, banned in Islam).


----------



## Meyer Wolfsheim

berndf said:


> I am quite sure it is not my personal background but shared intuition by most German speakers. Maybe the connection is stronger because
> _Mon-d (moon)_
> _Mon-at (month)_
> _Mon-tag (Monday)_
> all contain _Mon-_ which is not only spelled but also pronounced the same [mo:n-] in all three words.


 
I am quite certain most English speakers (the set of which does not include those trained in any linguistics or related fields) will not realize or believe there is a connection between "Monday," "month," and "moon."  A native speaker might discover a possible connection between "Monday" and "moon" via analogy with "Sunday" and "sun" where something looks a bit curious.  

However if one simply asks a speaker (at least a "clever" one) directly if a connection exists, especially if written on paper, I am sure the speaker will claim something but before that moment I doubt most English speakers make themselves consciously aware of any connection because the connection itself is historical and the vowel changed in moon (muwn) versus (m^ndej) or (m^n<th>).  

What your statement on a German speaker's intuition with the German counteparts reveals that the German might be more historically preservering in that area.  

I remember being taught the connection between "moon" and "month" in a 6th grade science class where I learned about the phases of the moon and my teacher remarked that "month" used to be pronounced "mun<th>"


----------



## Ben Jamin

sufler said:


> Hello!
> I noticed that in many languages the words for "month" and "moon" are very similar or just the same? Any ideas why?
> 
> Indonesian: bulan - bulan
> Belorussian: месяц - месяц
> Chinese: 月亮 - 月
> Croatian: mjesec - mjesec
> Czech: měsíc - měsíc
> Danish: måne - måned
> Estonian: Kuu - kuu
> Filipino: buwan - buwan
> Turkish: Ay - ay
> 
> and many others...


 
I thought that being a Polish speaker you should be familiar with the word 'miesiąc' meaning 'moon'. Used in educated speech well into the XIX century, and in dialects even today. It coexisted with 'księżyc' in many centuries.


----------



## Sepia

berndf said:


> Thank you Alex. What breaks the connection in English. Is is the long vs. short "o"? Is then also the connection between _Monday _and _Moon _not obvious to an English speaker?


 

I don't think it is the connection that is missing. It is the fact that probably the wast majority of native English speakers aren't used to learn foreign languages, and thus not used to compare words, or think of their origins, the was the average European would.

I find the connection pretty obvious especialls when you compare the the words of a few of the other Germanic languages like Danish and English

maane (moon), maaned (month). Obviously are closely connected. Maaned and month also - OK, one has the soft d/th sound at the end the other the one where you let a bit of air flow between the tongue and the front teeth. But that is not an extreme difference.

(the "aa" is a generally acceptet substitute for the a with a little circle on top of it - I don't have that on this keyboard/dont'remember the alt-code for it. The pronounication is somewhere between an "a" an an "o")


----------



## Aydintashar

J.F. de TROYES said:


> Welshie gives the reason why so various languages use the same noun for  _moon_  and _month _.  It's the same in Burmese :  လ la' ,  mwezi  in Swahili,  killa in Quechua , and these languages belong to unrelated families. In Arabic the usual words are different  قمر   (qamar ) and   شهر   (shahr), but this last word also refers to the new moon and is even used for _honey moon_ !


It is important to note that the expression "honey moon" in English should have been actually "honey month". This confusion indicates that the two concepts of "moon" and "month" had always overlapped. Since the majority of languages use similar or same words for the two concepts, it should have resulted from the strong influence of lunar calendar since ancient times.
an analogous situation exists in Turkish, in which the same word (gün) represents both "day" and "sun". 
However, the overlapping of the two concepts in Arabic is only trivial. In reality, the moon (القمر) and month (الشهر) are obviously two different concepts in Arabic.


----------



## Fericire

Moon - "Lua"
Month - "Mês".

no direct relationship between "moon" and "month" in Portuguese.


----------



## francisgranada

Aydintashar said:


> ... the expression "honey moon" in English should have been actually "honey month"...


 
Yes, it's a period of time and not the Moon itself. For example, in Hungarian we have_ "honey weeks"_ (_*mézes hetek*_) and not "_honey moon"_ (the number of weeks is individual ... )



> ... an analogous situation exists in Turkish, in which the same word (gün) represents both "day" and "sun"...


 
The same in Hungarian: _*nap* (sun, day)_


----------



## Melaike

artion said:


> What is mysterious? *The duration of the menstrual cycle approximates that of  the lunar month. I won't mention the magic-mythic relations between woman and moon *as they will characterise it "off topic". However, I will dare to inform you that the vulgar Gr. word for vulva is _muni_ (the Gr. for month is μην).



The connection is  very obvious in Turkish. Menstruation=Aybaşı(Ay+başı) means beginning/first day of the month/moon)


----------



## VcXegou

*Latin:

Luna *- moon, month


----------



## ancalimon

Melaike said:


> The connection is  very obvious in Turkish. Menstruation=Aybaşı(Ay+başı) means beginning/first day of the month/moon)



I think that could be also related to BAŞ: sore, injury

(From Compendium of Turkic Languages) (rough translation): There is no injury except its eyes for a deer which walks straight (without running into danger)  [and we know the eyes are not really wounds]

It could also be related to BAŞAK: virgo, fit for reproduction


----------



## Melaike

ancalimon said:


> It could also be related to BAŞAK: virgo, fit for reproduction



Türkish name ''Başak'' for zodiac sign Virgo is the translation of Arabic ''sumbule'' which means the same :Ear of Grain.

Besides I can't see the connection between Başak and Baş(in Aybaşı).


----------



## ger4

Latvian:

mēness: moon
mēnesis: month

---
-s and -is are nominative singular endings, i.e. the stem is mēnes-


----------



## ahvalj

Russian uses the word _луна/luna_ (<*_lou̯ksneH₂_, of the same origin as in Latin) for the celestial body and the (more or less) full moon, but the word _месяц/mesyats_ (<_*meH₁s-enkos _or _*__meH₁s-n̥kos_, related to _mēnsis, μήν, moon_) for the month and the partial moon.


----------



## apmoy70

artion said:


> What is mysterious? The duration of the menstrual cycle approximates that of  the lunar month. I won't mention the magic-mythic relations between woman and moon as they will characterise it "off topic". However, I will dare to inform you that the vulgar Gr. word for vulva is _muni_ (the Gr. for month is μην).


I'm afraid the two are completely unrelated; although  *«μουνί»* [muˈni] (neut.) --> _c*nt, c*nny_ still remains a perplexity to etymologists, the possible explanations suggest no relation at all to the moon:
i) From the Byz. neut. noun *«μουνίν» mounín* < Classical neut. noun *«εὐνίον» euníŏn* --> _vagina_, diminutive of the Classical fem. noun *«εὐνὴ» eunḕ* --> _matrimonial-bed, bedding_ (possibly from PIE *gʷḗn-, _woman_ cf Av. ūnā, lit. _empty place, hole_, metaph. _(vulg.) the female reproductive organ_; Lat. cunnus, _(vulg.) the female reproductive organ_). 
The mutation of the Classical *«αυ-» au-/«ευ-» eu-* to the Byzantine and Modern Gr. *«μν-» mn-* is not uncommon: Classical v. *«ἐλαύνω» elaúnō* --> _to drive, push, forge_ > aphetic *«λάμνω»* [ˈlamno]; *«εὐνοῦχος» eunoûkʰŏs* (masc.) --> _eunuch_ > *«μουνούχος»* [muˈnuxos].


ii) From the Classical v. *«βῑνέω/βῑνῶ» bīnéō* (uncontracted)/*bīnô* (contracted) --> _futuere, to have illicit sex_


iii) From the Classical masc. noun *«μνόος/μνοῦς» mnóŏs* (uncontracted)/*mnoûs* (contracted) --> _soft down_


(Apologies for the late response and OT, but I feel misconceptions need to be addressed)


----------



## mataripis

Pls. Include the word waves.it is also derived from luna, selini.


----------



## franknagy

francisgranada said:


> Hungarian
> 
> *hold* (moon)
> *hó* (month)
> *hónap* (month, lit. "moonday" i.e. a day of the moon)
> 
> (related to the Finnish and Estonian _kuu_)


Not only the moon and month are related in Hungarian but:
*nap* = day, sun; *hét* = seven, week.


----------

