List of names for the Milky Way

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This is a list of the names for the Milky Way in various languages. Some of them derive from myths, which can be found at Milky Way (mythology).

[edit] List of name in various languages

• Greek: Γαλαξίας κύκλος Galaxias Kyklos "Milky Circle", from a myth.
• Hindi: akashaganga "Ganges River of Heaven", from a myth.^[1]
• Catalan: Via Làctia "Milky Way", translated from Latin.
• Catalan: Camí de Sant Jaume, "The Road to Santiago".
• French: La voie lactée "The Milky Way".
• Italian: Via Lattea "Milky Way", translated from Latin.
• Latin: Via Lactea "Milky Way", translated from Greek.
• Portuguese: Estrada de Santiago, "The Road to Santiago" (used in European Portuguese only)
• Portuguese: Via Láctea "Milky Way", translated from Latin.
• Romanian: Calea Lactee "Milky Way", translated from Latin.
• Spanish: Via láctea "Milky Way", translated from Latin.
• Spanish: Compostela "Field of Stars", originally from Latin
• Spanish: Camino de Santiago "The Road to Santiago".
• Irish: Bealach na Bó Finne, "The Fair Cow's Way", or Slabhbra Luigh, "Lugh's Chain"
• Welsh: Llwybr Llaethog "Milky Way", translated from the Latin.
• Welsh: Caer Wydion "The Fort of Gwydion" (Gwydion).
• Danish: Mælkevejen.
• Faroese: Vetrarbreytin "The Winter Way".
• Dutch: Melkweg "Milky Way" translated from Latin.
• English: Milky Way, translated from Latin.^[2]
• German: Milchstraße "Milky Way"
• Icelandic: Vetrarbrautin "The Winter Way."
• Norwegian: Melkeveien "The milky way" (Bokmål, comes from Danish)
• Norwegian: Vinterbrauta "The Winter Way" (Nynorsk, related to Icelandic)
• Swedish: Vintergatan "Winter Street", because it is more visible during the winter in Scandinavia and looks like a snowy street.
• Armenian: Յարդ զողի Ճանապարհ hard goghi chanaparh "Straw Thief's Way", from a myth.^[1]
• Bosnian: Mliječni Put, "Milky Way" translated from Latin.
• Bulgarian: Млечен Път, "Milky Way", translated from Latin.
• Croatian: Mliječni Put "Milky Way" translated from Latin. Traditionally it was named Kumova slama (Godfather's straw)
• Czech: Mléčná dráha "Milky Way" translated from Greek or Latin.
• Latvian: Putnu Ceļš, The Birds' Path
• Lithuanian: Paukščių Takas, The Birds' Path
• Polish: Droga Mleczna "Milky Way", translated from Latin.
• Russian: Млечный путь "Milky Way", translated from Latin.
• Serbian: Mlečni put "Milky Way", translated from Latin.
• Serbian: Млечни пут "Milky Way", translated from Latin.
• Slovak: Mliečna dráha "Milky Way", translated from Latin.
• Slovene: Rimska cesta "The Roman Road", because pilgrims followed it when traveling to Rome.
• Ukrainian: Чумацький шлях "Way of Chumak"

• Arabic: درب التبانة‎ (Darb Al-Tabana) means Milky way.
• Hebrew: שביל החלב‎ "The Milky Way".
• Maltese: It-triq ta' Sant' Anna,St Anne's road

• Estonian: Linnutee "Way of Birds", from a myth.
• Finnish: Linnunrata "Way of Birds", from a myth.
• Erzya: Каргонь ки "Way of the Crane"
• Hungarian: Hadak Útja "The Road of the Warriors", from a myth. However this is the historical term, today it is known simply as "Tejút", meaning "Milk Way".

• Indonesian: Bima Sakti "Magical Bima", a character in Sanskrit epic Mahabharata
• Malay: Bima Sakti "Magical Bima", a character in Sanskrit epic Mahabharata

• Basque: Esne bidea, from Latin.
• Cherokee: ᎩᎵ ᎤᎵᏒᏍᏓᏅᏱ Gili Ulisvsdanvyi "The Way the Dog Ran Away", from a myth.
• Chinese: 銀河 "Silver River".
• Georgian: ირმის ნახტომი, irmis naxtomi "The Deer Jump"
• Japanese: 天の川 amanogawa "River of Heaven"
• Korean: 은하 eunha "Silver River", from Chinese, or "미리내"(mirinae) in pure Korean. The Milky Way is specifically called "Uri Eunha" ("Our Galaxy").
• Thai: ทางช้างเผือก "The way of the white elephant".
• Turkish: Samanyolu "Road of Straw"
• Vietnamese: Ngân Hà "Silver River", translated from Chinese.

[edit] Common names

[edit] Birds' Path

The name "Birds' Path" is used in several Uralic and Turkic languages and in the Baltic languages.

[edit] Milky Way

Many European languages have borrowed, directly or indirectly, the Greek name for the Milky Way, including English and Latin.

[edit] Road to Santiago

The Milky Way was traditionally used as a guide by pilgrims traveling to the holy site at Compostela, hence the use of "The Road to Santiago" as a name for the Milky Way.^[2] Curiously, La Voje Ladee "The Milky Way" was also used to refer to the pilgrimage road.^[3]

[edit] Silver River

The Chinese name "Silver River" (銀河) is used throughout East Asia, including Korea and Viẹt Nam. In Japan, "Silver River" (銀河) means galaxies in general.

[edit] River of Heaven

The Japanese name for the Milky Way is the "River of Heaven" (天の川).

[edit] Straw Way

In a large area from Central Asia to Africa, the name for the Milky Way is related to the word for straw. It has been suggested that the term was spread by Arabs who in turn borrowed it from Armenia.^[4]

[edit] References