Cosmo vs. Astro... naut. (inane discussion of semantics)

[szputnyik]

In Hungarian we say "űrhajós" literally "space sailor" or "space seaman", a neutral term used for astronauts from any country. Sometimes "kozmonauta" is used for Soviet cosmonauts. "Asztronauta" (astronaut) is rarely used, it was only popular in the 80s and 90s in children's sci-fi to give it a more "sciency" feel.

Bertalan Farkas, the Hungarian cosmonaut who flew with the Soviet Interkosmos program in 1980, prefers to be called a "kozmonauta".

[little square dot]

That's in English. For most other languages, the difference is almost nonexistent.

I have no idea about most other languages, but this discussion is in English so there is a distinction.

[little square dot]

Spatium is a latin word too, and I don't see where the station appears.

In English, and in French, we say people go to space. We don't say they go to the stars or the cosmos, so spationaut would make more sense, but the word astronaut has been here for long and will likely stick.

Based on common usage, inclusion of the word 'space' would make sense, however the common usage doesn't make much sense... I guess that's the evolution of language.

Oh, and "l'allemand" means "the German", and takes no capital a. Germany is Allemagne.

The country is called by several others names that have nothing to do with these three. It's due to it not really being a country for a very long time.

Ah. It's been 12 years since my last French class, so go easy. =) I took French and German at the same time, so improper capitalization of nouns is sort of my thing.

I don't think that the age of a country has much to do with it though. I suspect that it's simply our aversion to change, because it's not as though memorizing a new name every now and then is a tall task.

[Sillychris]

The germans called it Luftaffe, We called it an air-force.

I think if you do something awesome like sending people into space, you can call them whatever the hell you want.

[Whirligig Girl]

Cosmonaut is technically correct, "Cosmos" is all of space, and "Astra" is only stars, a place where no one has been. Although "Naut" may be the problem, as "Nautical" refers to the sea. I prefer "Astronaut", but perhaps more specific terms should come into use.

-Orbisnaut (Or-BIZ-Nott), A human in LEO.

-Lunanaut (Lun-an-ott), An explorer of Earth's Moon.

-Jovionaut (Jov-ee-oh-nott), an explorer of the Jupiter System.

-Astronaut/Solonaut (Ass-Troh-Nott/Sol-Oh-Nott), an explorer of a Star/Sun.

-Cosmonaut (Coz-Mo-Nott), Explorers of Extrasolar Space.

-Kerbonaut (Kerb-Oh-Nott), Explorers of the Kerbin System.

-Chrononaut (Crone-oh-Nott), Time Traveller.

[little square dot]

The germans called it Luftaffe, We called it an air-force.

That's a lot different. That's simply a common noun in a different language.

I think if you do something awesome like sending people into space, you can call them whatever the hell you want.

This is exactly what happened.

[little square dot]

-Orbisnaut (Or-BIZ-Nott), A human in LEO.

-Lunanaut (Lun-an-ott), An explorer of Earth's Moon.

-Jovionaut (Jov-ee-oh-nott), an explorer of the Jupiter System.

-Astronaut/Solonaut (Ass-Troh-Nott/Sol-Oh-Nott), an explorer of a Star/Sun.

-Cosmonaut (Coz-Mo-Nott), Explorers of Extrasolar Space.

-Kerbonaut (Kerb-Oh-Nott), Explorers of the Kerbin System.

-Chrononaut (Crone-oh-Nott), Time Traveller.

oooh oooh oooh, can we string them together if more than one applies? ...like a Joviorbiscosmolunanaut.

[Thiel]

One that I only recently found out is that Finland is called Suomi by "Finns" who don't actually refer to themselves as Finns, their language Finnish or their country Finland.

What? Suomi is "Finnish for Finland"?

haha, it doesn't make any sense. Suomi is suomi for Suomi. Why not save ourselves the translation by simply referring to them by the name they call themselves? I understand the interesting historic relevance to the various names, but that's what history books are for.

It makes perfect sense when you realise that Finland has a large Swedish speaking minority. That's also the reason why a lot of their cities have two names, ie. Helsinki/Helsingfors.

[Sillychris]

Space-o-nauts are pretty cool, but what about those of us who explore terrestrially?

Nautonaut(one who explores oceans)

Rhodonaut(someone on a roadtrip)

Trekonaut(hiker, maybe backpacking)

Vertonaut(Rock climber/mountain climber)

[NASAFanboy]

Space-o-nauts are pretty cool, but what about those of us who explore terrestrially?

Nautonaut(one who explores oceans)

Rhodonaut(someone on a roadtrip)

Trekonaut(hiker, maybe backpacking)

Vertonaut(Rock climber/mountain climber)

In that case, we are all an Computonaut, or an Internaut.

We explore the internet, thought it really depends. Some, like me, have an alter ego on the internet and an whole different life on it, while others just use it casually from time to time.

[little square dot]

It makes perfect sense when you realise that Finland has a large Swedish speaking minority. That's also the reason why a lot of their cities have two names, ie. Helsinki/Helsingfors.

That's what I'm saying doesn't make sense.

Again, I understand the history... obviously these names aren't just pulled out of the blue, and of course there's always a logical explanation behind the various names we give to countries and their peoples, but how is it not unreasonable for English speakers to use Swedish to refer to a distinct, non-Swedish ethnic group?

Given that the vast majority of the population is not Swedish, does not use the Swedish language, and are in fact quite proud of their distinct, non-Swedish culture, where is the sense in this?

[Whirligig Girl]

In that case, we are all an Computonaut, or an Internaut.

We explore the internet, thought it really depends. Some, like me, have an alter ego on the internet and an whole different life on it, while others just use it casually from time to time.

The term for an internet surfer is "Infonaut" according to Wikipedia.

[little square dot]

Come to think of it, since 'astronomy' is no longer taken to mean the exclusive study of stars, instead inferring the study of all celestial bodies and their interactions, I guess astronaut is alright... for uniformity's sake.

[szputnyik]

The germans called it Luftaffe

Doesn't "Luftaffe" literally mean "Air Monkey" in German?

[little square dot]

haha, nice.

Let's just called them spacemonkeys.

[Legendary Emu]

Why don't we just call them "spacers"?

[*Aqua*]

I've always preferred "Astronaut". I've just never liked describing space as "The Cosmos". I even like Taikonaut better than Cosmonaut. I'd never heard of spationauts until this thread.

Germans refer to astronauts as 'Astronaut', 'Raumfahrer' (lit. space driver) or 'Weltraumgänger' (old and seldom used now, lit. space walker*).

How do other nations name German astronauts? Germanauts? (lol)

The germans called it Luftaffe, We called it an air-force.

Doesn't "Luftaffe" literally mean "Air Monkey" in German?

It does!

* No, it's not Skywalker *whistling the Imperial March*. 'Weltraum' can either mean 'space' or 'universe'. It's quite fitting.

[Rjhere]

I've always figured that an astronaut is a man who's been in space, and a cosmonaut is someone who's actually been in space. Like the Apollo crew, certain people on the ISS, basically anyone who's been on EVA. I know it's neither logical nor correct, but I like it that way

[Idobox]

Ah. It's been 12 years since my last French class, so go easy. =) I took French and German at the same time, so improper capitalization of nouns is sort of my thing.

I don't think that the age of a country has much to do with it though. I suspect that it's simply our aversion to change, because it's not as though memorizing a new name every now and then is a tall task.

Don't worry, I'm just used to be surrounded by people learning French who prefer their errors pointed out.

Because Germany was not a unified country, the name comes from the people, and people called themselves or their neighbor differently in different places. Garmany comes from the Latin name for everything east of the Rhine, Allemagne from one Germanic tribe, Deutsch comes an old German word for people, in Estonian and Finnish it comes from Saxons (Saksa), in many Slavic languages, it means "those that don't speak (our language)" (Nemets).

Most modern countries have existed in a form or another for a very long time, and have had a name corresponding to one area. If people living in one area call this area call it Borogravia, and themselves Borogravian for centuries, their neighbors don't have to invent various names for them.

[cantab]

They shouldn't be called anything nought, that's kind of rude. They should be astroones.

[GJS]

First in Space Cosmonaut.

[Dodgey]

It's a different word from a different language, I don't see the discussion unless you are proposing to create a universal language.