Azelfafage
English
Etymology
Either:[1]
- From Arabic الذَّيْل الدَّجَاجَة (aḏ-ḏayl ad-dajāja, “the tail of the hen”). Cygnus is known in Arabic as الدَّجَاجَة (ad-dajāja, “the hen”).
- From Arabic الظِّلْف الْفَرَس (aẓ-ẓilf al-faras, “the hoof of the horse”), in reference to Pegasus, or to another “Stallion” constellation known to medieval Arabs.[2] In the modern conception of constellations, Pegasus does not extend this far, but its hooves do border another part of Cygnus.
Proper noun
Azelfafage
- (astronomy) The first component of Pi1 Cygni, a binary star in the northern constellation of Cygnus.
References
- Richard Hinckley Allen (1899) Star-names and Their Meanings, New York: G. E. Stechert, OCLC 1285139, page 197
- Ludwig Ideler (1809) Untersuchungen über den Ursprung und die Bedeutung der Sternnamen (in German), Berlin: Johann Friedrich Weiss, OCLC 11828254, pages 79–80