List of names for the Milky Way

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).

List of names in various languages

• Afrikaans: Melkweg "Milky Way" translated from Latin
• Arabic: درب التبانة‎‎ (Darb Al-Tabbāna) "Hay Merchants Way" or درب اللبانة (Darb Al-Labbāna)' "Milky Way"
• Armenian: Յարդ զողի Ճանապարհ hard goghi chanaparh "Straw Thief's Way", from a myth.^[1]
• Basque: Esne bidea, from Latin
• Bengali: ছায়া পথ "The way which has shadow"
• Bosnian: Mliječni Put, "Milky Way" translated from Latin
• Bulgarian: Млечен Път, "Milky Way", translated from Latin
• Catalan: Via Làctia "Milky Way", translated from Latin
• Catalan: Camí de Sant Jaume, "The Road to Santiago"
• Chechen: Ça Taxina Taça "the route of scattered straw"
• Cherokee: ᎩᎵ ᎤᎵᏒᏍᏓᏅᏱ Gili Ulisvsdanvyi "The Way the Dog Ran Away", from a myth
• Chinese: 銀河 "Silver River"
• Chuvash: Хуркайӑк ҫулӗ "Way of the Gray goose"
• Croatian: Mliječna Staza "Milky Way" translated from Latin. Traditionally it was named Kumova slama (Godfather's straw).
• Czech: Mléčná dráha "Milky Way" translated from Greek or Latin
• Danish: Mælkevejen "The Milky Way" translated from Latin
• Dutch: Melkweg "Milky Way" translated from Latin
• English: Milky Way, translated from Latin^[2]
• Erzya: Каргонь ки "Way of the Crane"
• Estonian: Linnutee "Way of Birds", from a myth
• Finnish: Linnunrata "Way of Birds", from a myth
• Faroese: Vetrarbreytin "The Winter Way"
• French: La voie lactée "The Milky Way"
• Galician: Via Láctea "Milky Way", translated from Latin
• Galician: Camiño de Santiago, "The Road to Santiago"
• Georgian: ირმის ნახტომი, irmis naxtomi "The Deer Jump"
• German: Milchstraße "Milky Way"
• Greek: Γαλαξίας κύκλος Galaxias Kyklos "Milky Circle", from a myth
• Hebrew: שביל החלב‎‎ "The Milk Way"
• Hindi: आकाशगंगा "Ganges River of Heaven", from a myth^[1]
• Hungarian: Hadak Útja "The Road of the Warriors", from a myth (historical)
• Hungarian: Tejút "Milky Way"
• Icelandic: Vetrarbrautin "The Winter Way"
• Irish: Bealach na Bó Finne "The Fair Cow's Path"
• Irish: Claí Mór na Réaltaí "Great Fence of the Stars"
• Irish: Slabhbra Luigh "Lugh's Chain"
• Indonesian: Bima Sakti "Poweful Bima", a character in Sanskrit epic Mahabharata
• Italian: Via Lattea "Milky Way", translated from Latin
• Japanese: 天の川 Ama no Gawa "River of Heaven"
• Kannada: Kannada "Aakaasha Ganga"
• Korean: 은하수 eunhasu "Silver River", from Chinese 銀河水, or "미리내"(mirinae) in pure Korean. The Milky Way is specifically called "Uri Eunha" ("Our Galaxy")
• Latin: Via Lactea "Milky Way", translated from Greek
• Latvian: Putnu Ceļš, The Birds' Path
• Lithuanian: Paukščių Takas, The Birds' Path
• Malay: Bima Sakti "Magical Bima", a character in Sanskrit epic Mahabharata
• Maltese: Triq Sant' Anna, "St Anne's way"
• Meadow Mari: Кайыккомбо корно, "Way of the Gray goose"
• Mingrelian: მეშხურეშ შარა meshkhuresh shara "The Sheepman's Road"
• Norwegian: Melkeveien "The Milky Way" (Bokmål, comes from Danish)
• Norwegian: Vinterbrauta "The Winter Way" (Nynorsk, related to Icelandic)
• Persian: راه شیری‎‎ (rah-e shiri)
• Kurdish: kadiz‎ (straw thief)
• Polish: Droga Mleczna "Milky Way", translated from Latin
• Portuguese: Via Láctea "Milky Way", translated from Latin, "Estrada de Santiago" "The Road of Santiago" (less common)
• Romanian: Calea Lactee "Milky Way", translated from Latin; traditional name: Calea Robilor or Drumul Robilor ("The Road of the Slaves") ^[3]
• Russian: Млечный путь "Milky Way", translated from Latin
• Sanskrit: मंदाकिनी "Mandakini", "calm or unhurried"
• Scottish Gaelic: Slighe Chlann Uisnich "the path of the children of Uisneach" from celtic mythology
• 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
• Spanish: Via láctea "Milky Way", translated from Latin
• Spanish: Compostela "Field of Stars", originally from Latin
• Spanish: Camino de Santiago "The Road to Santiago"
• Swedish: Vintergatan "Winter Street", from an old myth
• Tamil: பால் வழி "Milky Way", translated from Latin
• Telugu: పాల పుంత (Transliteration: Paala Puntha).
• Thai: ทางช้างเผือก "The way of the white elephant"
• Turkish: Samanyolu "Road of Straw"
• Ukrainian: Чумацький шлях "Way of Chumak"
• Vietnamese: Ngân Hà "Silver River", translated from Chinese
• Welsh: Llwybr Llaethog "Milky Way", translated from the Latin
• Welsh: Caer Wydion "The Fort of Gwydion" (Gwydion)

Common names

Birds' Path

The name "Birds' Path" is used in several Uralic and Turkic languages and in the Baltic languages. Northern peoples observed that migratory birds follow the course of the galaxy^[4] while migrating at the Northern Hemisphere. The name "Birds' Path" (in Finnish, Estonian, Latvian, Lithuanian, Bashkir and Kazakh) has some variations in other languages, e.g. "Way of the grey (wild) goose" in Chuvash, Mari and Tatar and "Way of the Crane" in Erzya and Moksha.

Milky Way

Many European languages have borrowed, directly or indirectly, the Greek name for the Milky Way, including English and Latin, which itself originates from Ancient Egyptian.

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.^[5]

Silver River

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

River of Heaven

The Japanese name for the Milky Way is the "River of Heaven" (天の川), as well as an alternative name in Chinese (Chinese: 天河; pinyin: Tiān hé).

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.^[6]

Walsingham Way

In England the Milky Way was called the Walsingham Way in reference to the shrine of Our Lady of Walsingham which is in Norfolk, England. It was understood to be either a guide to the pilgrims who flocked there, or a representation of the pilgrims themselves.^[7]

Winter Street

Scandinavian peoples, such as Swedes, have called the galaxy as Winter Street (Vintergatan) as the galaxy is most clearly visible during the Winter at the Northern hemisphere.

References