Editor's Corner

Today is the last day we visit “the final frontier” to talk about celestial adjectives.

Note: I have made slight edits to shorten the content. The original can be found at DailyWritingTips.com in the article "7 Heavenly Bodies as Sources of Adjectives" by Mark Nichol.

Saturn
The Roman god said to have been the father of Jupiter was associated with traits opposite to those of the scion who usurped his rule; a saturnine person is gloomy, sardonic, and surly, as opposed to the jovial type, though the adjective also has the neutral sense of “sluggish” and “serious.” This temperament was said in the Middle Ages to be the influence of the planet farthest from the Sun (or the one believed at the time to be the most remote) and the slowest.

But the god was also identified with justice and strength, as well as with agriculture, and later was celebrated in the weeklong winter-solstice feast known as the Saturnalia, when the rules of moral conduct and social status were suspended. That name, with the initial letter lowercased, now refers to any unrestrained merrymaking.

Venus
A supposed inhabitant of Venus is a Venusian, of course, but another term influenced by the name of the Roman goddess of love and beauty may surprise you. Because of Venus’s association with sex as well as affection and attractiveness, her name was the inspiration for venereal, which means “relating to sexual pleasure or indulgence” but is almost exclusively employed to refer to sexually transmitted infections or diseases. [KC – This use of “venereal” is considered antiquated and politically incorrect—safest just to stay away from it in all senses of the word.]

However, another variation has a more positive association: To venerate is to admire, honor, or respect (the noun form is veneration), and venerable refers to someone or something considered deserving of one of those types of regard. It is also synonymous with sacred and can apply to a person, place, or thing that through age and/or accomplishments earns esteem.

And with a little help from Lisa Reyes and Merriam-Webster (http://unabridged.merriam-webster.com):

Pluto

plu·to·ni·an
1 sometimes capitalized a : of or relating to the lower world : INFERNAL b : resembling the lower world : grim and gloomy : harsh and unpleasing <a plutonian darkness> <such plutonian landscapes>

Kara Church | Senior Technical Editor | Symitar

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