Since 1992
Print and digital marketing
By Barbara McAllister
Word of the Day: Monday
The words Monday, month and moon all share the same word root. “Moon” can be traced to the word mōna, an Old English word from medieval times. Mōna shares its origins with the Latin words for month and measure, because ancient cultures used the waxing and waning of the moon as a measurement. The time between new moons, or the length of time it takes the moon to orbit the Earth, was a measurement of time that came to be known as a month. Nordic cultures devoted the first day of the week to the sun, making it Sunday. The second day of the week was devoted to the worship of Mona, the goddess of the moon. It became known as moon’s day and translated from the Anglo-Saxon word became Monday. Girls born on Monday in ancient Britain were named Mona after the Old English word for moon. In Roman mythology the goddess of the moon was known as Luna, giving us the words lunar and lunatic.
The word lunatic originally referred to someone afflicted with epilepsy or madness, diseases thought to be caused by phases of the moon. The moon is known to exert gravitational pull on bodies of water, which is the cause of ocean tides. Tidal changes are most noticeable in the ocean because of its size, but it has been shown that gravitational pull exists in all bodies of water, regardless of size. Even an amount as small as a drinking glass of water has been shown to have a tide. It’s just not as apparent.
Since the human body is 60 to 75% water, it is theoretically possible for the moon to affect the human body and therefore human behavior. Doctors today do not subscribe to theories of moon madness or lunacy, but many believe that phases and positions of the moon can in fact affect animal and human emotions and behavior.
