this post was submitted on 31 Jan 2026
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The word Arctic comes from the Greek word ἀρκτικός arktikos "near the Bear, northern" and from the word ἄρκτος arktos meaning "bear" for either to the constellation known as Ursa Major, the "Great Bear", which is prominent in the northern portion of the celestial sphere, or the constellation Ursa Minor, the "Little Bear", which contains the celestial north pole (currently very near Polaris, the current north Pole Star, or North Star).
The arctic isn't named after polar bears, but after the greek bear constellations which hold the north star. And the Antarctica is named after being the opposite of where the bear constellations are. It's just a coincidence that the correct one has bears and the correct one doesn't.
It's still mind blowing, even if it is a coincidence.
You’re going to name constellations after things that you know well, so the fact that there are a lot of bears relative to other megafauna in northern regions means that in a way the original idea still holds, just not quite as basic.
Some constellations, including the Great Bear, were named long before our languages even existed.
Etymology wise we might say it comes from ancient Greek, but it's also called Great Bear in languages that have no origin in Greek.
Wikipedia - Cosmic Hunt
I'm going out on a limb here, but I believe the Great Bear is actually named after a great bear.
Not all cultures though. In Brazil, the Big Dipper is also known as "large anus of the snake".
Essa eu não sabia. Isso vem de alguma língua indígena?
"not all cultures in the southern hemisphere named it because it is always either close to the horizon or invisible. For instance, the Brazilian Tucano people called it the Large Anus of the Snake and in Samoa it forms part of the Heirloom Warclub."
i don't think names in other languages is great evidence, because they could just have adopted the same name regardless, since they presumably adopted the greek constellations as well.
Most cultures used to have their own almost entirely different constellations, the only stuff i think has some overlap is the really obvious simple ones like the southern cross.
The thing is that native American didn't get the name from Greek, yet, it is still reference to a bear.
which cultures are we talking about here? i kinda don't feel like going through every single set of native american constellations looking for ones that are bears..
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/scientists-trace-society-rsquo-s-myths-to-primordial-origins/
It's a cool coincidence, though.
I mean, come on. The region called after the constellation with the north star, which aids with finding where the north pole is, has polar bears. Nice!