Cytherean is an

adjective An adjective (abbreviations, abbreviated ) is a word that describes or defines a noun or noun phrase. Its semantic role is to change information given by the noun. Traditionally, adjectives are considered one of the main part of speech, parts of ...

literally meaning ''of Cythera'' (Latin ''Cytherēa'', from the Greek adjective Κυθέρεια ''Kythereia'', from Κύθηρα ''Kythēra'' 'Cythera'). Cythera is a small Greek island, southeast of the

Peloponnesus The Peloponnese ( ), Peloponnesus ( ; , ) or Morea (; ) is a peninsula and geographic regions of Greece, geographic region in Southern Greece, and the southernmost region of the Balkans. It is connected to the central part of the country by the ...

, and a legendary birthplace of the goddess

Aphrodite Aphrodite (, ) is an Greek mythology, ancient Greek goddess associated with love, lust, beauty, pleasure, passion, procreation, and as her syncretism, syncretised Roman counterpart , desire, Sexual intercourse, sex, fertility, prosperity, and ...

(Venus). The word ''Cytherean'' was first applied to the goddess and later, due to

word taboo Word taboo, also called taboo language, offensive word, language taboo or linguistic taboo is a kind of taboo that involves restricting the use of words or other parts of language due to social constraints. This may be due to a taboo on specific pa ...

, to the planet

Venus Venus is the second planet from the Sun. It is often called Earth's "twin" or "sister" planet for having almost the same size and mass, and the closest orbit to Earth's. While both are rocky planets, Venus has an atmosphere much thicker ...

that had been named after the goddess. When

planetary scientists Planetary means relating to a planet or planets. It can also refer to: Science * Planetary habitability, the measure of an astronomical body's potential to develop and sustain life * Planetary nebula, an astronomical object People * Planetary (r ...

began to have a need to discuss details of the planets, a need arose for generally accepted adjectives. As the planets had traditionally been associated with gods in

classical mythology Classical mythology, also known as Greco-Roman mythology or Greek and Roman mythology, is the collective body and study of myths from the ancient Greeks and ancient Romans. Mythology, along with philosophy and political thought, is one of the m ...

, there were commonly used adjectives that already related to some characteristic of the gods; for example, Mars and "martial" (warlike), Saturn and "saturnine" (gloomy). A consensus arose to use a slightly modified form - "Martian" for Mars, "Saturnian" for Saturn - that avoided these existing connotations. In the case of Venus, however, the traditional adjective would have been "Venereal" or "Venerial", which was strongly associated with sex (eg as in

venereal disease A sexually transmitted infection (STI), also referred to as a sexually transmitted disease (STD) and the older term venereal disease (VD), is an infection that is spread by sexual activity, especially vaginal intercourse, anal sex, or ...

), and the alternative term "Venerean"/"Venerian" () was felt by many astronomers to be too similar, and was generally avoided. The Greek name for Venus was Aphrodite; an adjective derived from that name would be "Aphrodisian" , or "Aphrodisial", which was again avoided due to a similarity to "

aphrodisiac An aphrodisiac is a substance that increases libido, sexual desire, sexual attraction, sexual pleasure, or sexual behavior. These substances range from a variety of plants, spices, and foods to synthetic chemicals. Natural aphrodisiacs, such as ...

". A consensus arose to use "Cytherian" or "Cytherean"; ''Cytherēa'' had been used in

Greek mythology Greek mythology is the body of myths originally told by the Ancient Greece, ancient Greeks, and a genre of ancient Greek folklore, today absorbed alongside Roman mythology into the broader designation of classical mythology. These stories conc ...

as an alternative name for Aphrodite, derived from the legend that she had been born from the sea and emerged on the island of Cythera.M. Heydari-Malayeri
An Etymological Dictionary of Astronomy and Astrophysics English-French-Persian
The term " Venusian" was not originally popular as it was seen as clumsy; Sagan referred to it in 1966 as "a barbarism, comparable to 'Marsian', 'Jupiterian' or 'Earthian'.". However, practices shifted over the years, and in the 21st century "Venusian" is now the form most commonly used, with "Cytherean" less common.

References

{{Venus Venus Planetary science Greek mythology

See also

References