Editing Mercury (planet) (section)

== Nomenclature ==
Historically, humans knew Mercury by different names depending on whether it was an evening star or a morning star. By about 350 BC, the [[ancient Greeks]] had realized the two stars were one.<ref name="Dunne"/> They knew the planet as {{Lang|grc|Στίλβων|italic=no}} {{Lang|grc-latn|Stilbōn}}, meaning "twinkling", and {{Lang|grc|Ἑρμής|italic=no}} {{Lang|grc-latn|[[Hermes|Hermēs]]}}, for its fleeting motion,<ref>{{LSJ|sti/lbwn|Στίλβων}}, {{LSJ|*(ermh{{=}}s|Ἑρμῆς|ref}}.</ref> a name that is retained in modern [[Greek language|Greek]] ({{Lang|el|Ερμής|italic=no}} {{Lang|el-latn|Ermis}}).<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.greek-names.info/greek-names-of-the-planets/ |title=Greek Names of the Planets |access-date=July 14, 2012 |quote=''Ermis'' is the Greek name of the planet Mercury, which is the closest planet to the Sun. It is named after the Greek God of commerce, Ermis or Hermes, who was also the messenger of the Ancient Greek gods. |date=April 25, 2010 |archive-date=May 9, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100509164917/http://www.greek-names.info/greek-names-of-the-planets/ |url-status=live }} See also the [[:el:Ερμής (πλανήτης)|Greek article about the planet]].</ref> The Romans named the planet after the swift-footed Roman messenger god, [[Mercury (mythology)|Mercury]] (Latin {{Lang|la|Mercurius}}), whom they equated with the Greek Hermes, because it moves across the sky faster than any other planet,<ref name="Dunne">{{cite book |title=The Voyage of Mariner&nbsp;10 – Mission to Venus and Mercury |last1=Dunne |first1=James A. |last2=Burgess |first2=Eric |chapter-url=https://history.nasa.gov/SP-424/ch1.htm |publisher=NASA History Office |date=1978 |chapter=Chapter One |url=https://history.nasa.gov/SP-424/ |access-date=July 12, 2017 |archive-date=November 17, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171117190025/https://history.nasa.gov/SP-424/ |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |first=Eugène Michel |last=Antoniadi |others=Translated from French by Moore, Patrick |date=1974 |title=The Planet Mercury |publisher=Keith Reid Ltd |location=Shaldon, Devon |pages=9–11 |isbn=978-0-904094-02-2}}</ref> though some associated the planet with [[Apollo]] instead, as detailed by [[Pliny the Elder]].<ref name="DRGA Planetae">[https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0063%3Aalphabetic+letter%3DP%3Aentry+group%3D4%3Aentry%3Dplanetae-cn "Planetae"], in ''Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities'', pp. 922, 923.</ref> The [[astronomical symbol]] for Mercury is a stylized version of Hermes' [[caduceus]]; a [[Christian cross]] was added in the 16th century:[[File:Mercury symbol (fixed width).svg|16px|☿]].<ref>{{cite book |title=Astronomy: A Textbook |first=John Charles |last=Duncan |date=1946 |publisher=Harper & Brothers |page=125 |quote=The symbol for Mercury represents the Caduceus, a wand with two serpents twined around it, which was carried by the messenger of the gods.}}</ref><ref name="jones-1999">{{cite book |last=Jones |first=Alexander |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8MokzymQ43IC&pg=PA62 |title=Astronomical papyri from Oxyrhynchus |date=1999 |isbn=9780871692337 |pages=62–63 |publisher=American Philosophical Society |quote=It is now possible to trace the medieval symbols for at least four of the five planets to forms that occur in some of the latest papyrus horoscopes ([ [[P.Oxy.]] ] 4272, 4274, 4275 [...]). Mercury's is a stylized caduceus. |access-date=March 19, 2023 |archive-date=April 11, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230411141114/https://books.google.com/books?id=8MokzymQ43IC&pg=PA62 |url-status=live }}</ref>