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Name and etymology
The usual English proper name for Earth's natural satellite is "the Moon".[10][11] The noun moon derives from moone (around 1380), which developed from mone (1135), which derives from Old English mōna (dating from before 725), which, like all Germanic language cognates, ultimately stems from Proto-Germanic *mǣnōn.[12] Occasionally the name "Luna" is used, for example for a personified Moon in poetry, or to distinguish it from other moons in science fiction.[13]
The principal modern English adjective pertaining to the Moon is lunar, derived from the Latin Luna. A less common adjective is selenic, derived from the Ancient Greek Selene (Σελήνη), from which the prefix "seleno-" (as in selenography) is derived.[14][15] Both the Greek Selene and the Roman goddess Diana were alternatively called Cynthia.[16] The names Luna, Cynthia and Selene are reflected in terminology for lunar orbits in words such as apolune, pericynthion and selenocentric. The name Diana is connected to dies, meaning 'day'.