Star Names

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First published in 1899 as Star-Names and Their Meanings, this work collected the origins of the names of stars and constellations from a panoply of sources, some primary but most secondary.{{citation needed|date=March 2025}} It also briefly retells the various myths and folklore connected with stars in the Greco-Roman tradition, as well as in the Arabic, Babylonian, Indian and Chinese traditions (for which, however, some modern criticism{{who|date=March 2025}}{{citation needed|date=March 2025}} having taken it to task, claiming it to be largely superseded).{{citation needed|date=March 2025}}

The book also provides some cursory details about astronomy, at the knowledge level of the end of the 19th century.{{citation needed|date=March 2025}} Similarly, astrology and its history are dealt with briefly in the introduction,{{citation needed|date=March 2025}} and some other basic astrological references (although downplayed) are scattered throughout the book.{{citation needed|date=March 2025}}

{{expand section | with = further scholarly assessments, in addition to that of Kunitzsch | small = no | date = March 2025}}

Late historian of astronomy Paul Kunitzsch{{cite journal | author = Van Dalen, Benno | date = 2020–2021 | title = In Memoriam: Paul Kunitzsch | journal = Suhayl | volume = 18 | pages = 277–284 | url = http://www.bennovandalen.de/Publications/van-Dalen-Lorch-2020---Paul-Kunitzsch-In-Memoriam--Memories-and-List-of-publications.pdf | access-date = 14 March 2025}} Per this source, Van Dalen is a member of the Bavarian Academy of Sciences and Humanities. notes that the "book may be taken as a handbook summing up the state of knowledge arrived at by his time," but that to standards current to his 1979 publication, it was generally unreliable with regard to star names and their derivations.{{cite journal | author = Kunitzsch, Paul | year = 1979 | title = A Note on Star Names, especially Arabic, and their Literature | journal = Quarterly Journal of the Royal Astronomical Society | volume = 20 | pages = 478–480 | bibcode = 1979QJRAS..20..478K | url = https://articles.adsabs.harvard.edu/pdf/1979QJRAS..20..478K | access-date = 14 March 2025}}{{verify source|date=March 2025}} Science fiction writers/editors Algis Budrys and Frederik Pohl called Star Names "a fine book (but hardly 'hammock reading')", in a 1965 review.{{Cite magazine |last1=Budrys |first1=Algis |last2=Pohl |first2=Frederik |date=April 1965 |title=Galaxy Bookshelf |url=https://archive.org/stream/Galaxy_v23n04_1965-04#page/n137/mode/2up |magazine=Galaxy Science Fiction |pages=137–145}} In an assessment by amateur classicist Bill Thayer,{{Cite web | author = Thayer, Bill | date = March 2025 | title=Credentials | url=https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/HELP/credentials.html | access-date=2025-03-14 | format = component webpage | location = Chicago, IL | publisher = Bill Thayer and The University of Chicago}} the book was presented as mostly accurate in its explanations of Greek and Latin star names, although containing minor historical errors, and overestimates of the age of some Greek temples.{{Cite web | author = Thayer, Bill | date = March 2025 | title=Richard Hinckley Allen—Star Names: Their Lore and Meaning; Assessment | url=http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/e/gazetteer/topics/astronomy/_texts/secondary/allsta/home.html | access-date=2025-03-14 | format = component webpage | location = Chicago, IL | publisher = Bill Thayer and The University of Chicago}} It was also criticised with regard to star names by Gary D. Thompson, an amateur astronomer who maintains its discussion of Arabic, Mesopotamian, and Egyptian constellations and star names are likewise especially unreliable.{{cite web | author = Thompson, Gary D[avid] | date = September 27, 2011 | title = Richard Allen's Star-Names: Their Lore and Meaning | work = WestNet.com.au | format = personal blogpost | url = http://members.westnet.com.au/gary-david-thompson/page11-36.html | access-date = 14 March 2025 | url-status = dead | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20110927212944/http://members.westnet.com.au/Gary%2DDavid%2DThompson/page11-36.html | archive-date = 2011-09-27}} Further contributions from Thompson can be found, linked, at that website. The attribution of "amateur" in the text description arises from failure to find any self-stated or other affiliations for the author of these contributions (alongside the same online characterisation of this contributor).

• {{cite book | author = Kunitzsch, Paul & Smart, Tim | date = 1986 | title = Short Guide to Modern Star Names | location = Wiesbaden, Germany | publisher = O. Harrassowitz | isbn = 9783447025805 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=5th-AAAAIAAJ | access-date = 14 March 2025 }}
• {{cite book | author = Kunitzsch, Paul & Smart, Tim | date = 2006 | title = A Dictionary of Modern Star Names: A Short Guide to 254 Star Names and Their Derivations | edition = 2nd | location = Cambridge, MA | publisher = AAS Sky Publishing Corporation | isbn = 9781931559447 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=XVspPwAACAAJ | access-date = 14 March 2025 }}
• {{cite book | author = Ridpath, Ian | author-link = Ian Ridpath | date = 2018 | title = Star Tales | edition = Revised, expanded | location = Cambridge, England | publisher = Lutterworth Press | isbn = 9780718847814 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=7dXYDwAAQBAJ | access-date = 14 March 2025 }} This book's subject area is described as literary criticism.

• History of the constellations

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• [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Gazetteer/Topics/astronomy/_Texts/secondary/ALLSTA/home.html Allen's Star Names] at LacusCurtius

Category:1899 books

Category:19th-century history books

Category:History books about science

Category:History of astronomy

Category:Astronomy books