Tibetan (All Terms)
From All Skies Encyclopaedia
Authors: Youla Azkarrula, Susanne M Hoffmann
In the early prehistory of Tibet, astronomy was used for basic purposes like that of the old grandmother’s. In order to know when to plant and harvest the crop, astrological markers, like the length of the day and the arrival of certain constellations in the sky, were consulted. [1]
Solar System Names
| Tibetan | English | commentary |
|---|---|---|
| Nyima | Sun | |
| Dawa | Moon | |
| Rahu | Ascending Lunar Node | |
| Ketu | Descending Lunar Node | |
| Lhakpa | Mercury | |
| Pasang | Venus | |
| Mikmar | Mars | |
| Phurbu | Jupiter | |
| Penpa | Saturn |
Tibetan Community in India
Tibetan Lunar Mansion
The star names documented in the table below draw from multiple sources. Johnson-Groh (2013) collected star names from the Tibetan community in Dharamsala, India, rather than from within Tibet itself. This compilation is polished by Lyu Haocheng and the IPA(s) are the consideration as the native spelling.
The Indian system traditionally identifies 27 nakshatras, with Abhijit sometimes included as the 28th or merged with Jyeṣṭhā. The Tibetan system follows this convention with variations.
| No. | Tibetan | IPA | Wylie | Pinyin | THL | Sanskrit | Chinese | Modern Star Name 1 | Modern Star Name 2 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0 | ཐ་སྐར། | tʰa˥˥.kaː˥˥ | tha-skar | ta gar | Takar | Aśvinī | 娄 Bond | β Ari (Sheratan) | β Ari (Sheratan) |
| 1 | བྲ་ཉེ། | ʈ͡ʂʰa˨˩.ȵe˥˦ | bra-nye | cha nyê | Dranye | Bharaṇī | 胃 Stomach | μ Ari | 35 Ari |
| 2 | སྨིན་དྲུག | mĩ˥˥.ʈ͡ʂuk˥˧ | smin-drug | min zhug | Mindruk | Kṛttikā | 昴 Hairy Head | Pleiades | η Tau (Alcyone) |
| 3 | སྣར་མ། | naː˥˥.ma˥˦ | snar-ma | nar ma | Narma | Rohiṇī | 毕 Net | α Tau (Aldebaran) | α Tau (Aldebaran) |
| 4 | མགོ | ko˩˧ | mgo | go | Go | Mrigaśirā | 觜 Beak | λ Ori (Meissa) | λ Ori (Meissa) |
| 5 | ལག | lak˨˧˩ | lag | lag | Lak | Ārdrā | 参 Three Stars | α Ori (Betelgeuse) | α Ori (Betelgeuse) |
| 6 | ནབས་སོ། | nap˨˩.so˥˦ | nabs-so | nab so | Nabso | Punarvasu | 井 Well | β Gem (Pollux) | β Gem (Pollux) |
| 7 | རྒྱལ། | cɛː˩˩˦ | rgyal | gyai / gyä | Gyal | Puṣya | 鬼 Ghosts | 5 Cnc | δ Cnc |
| 8 | སྐག | kak˥˧ | skag | gag | Kak | Āśleṣā | 柳 Willow | α Hya (Alphard) | α Hya (Alphard) |
| 9 | མཆུ། | t͡ɕʰu˥˦ | mchu | qu | Chu | Maghā | 星 Stars | α Leo (Regulus) | α Leo (Regulus) |
| 10 | གྲེ | ʈ͡ʂʰe˩˧ | gre | chê | Dre | Pūrva-Phālgunī | 张 Extended Net | δ Leo (Zosma) | δ Leo (Zosma) |
| 11 | དབོ། | wo˥˦ | dbo | wo | Wo | Uttara-Phālgunī | 翼 Wings | β Leo (Denebola) | β Leo (Denebola) |
| 12 | མེ་བཞི། | me˨˩.ɕi˥˦ | me-bzhi | mê xi | Mezhi | Hasta | 轸 Chariot | δ Crv (Algorab) | δ Crv (Algorab) |
| 13 | ནག་པ། | nak˨˩.pa˥˦ | nag-pa | nag ba | Nakpa | Citrā | 角 Horn | α Vir (Spica) | α Vir (Spica) |
| 14 | ས་རི། | sa˥˥.ɾi˥˦ | sa-ri | sa ri | Sari | Svāti | 亢 Net | α Boo (Arcturus) | α Boo (Arcturus) |
| 15 | ས་ག | sa˥˥.ka˥˦ | sa-ga | sa ga | Saga | Viśākhā | 氐 Root | α Lib (Zubenelgenubi) | α Lib (Zubenelgenubi) |
| 16 | ལྷ་མཚམས། | l̥a˥˥.tsʰam˥˧ | lha-mtshams | lha cam | Lhatsam | Anurādhā | 房 Room | δ Sco (Dschubba) | δ Sco (Dschubba) |
| 17 | སྣྲོན། | nø̃˥˥ | snron | noin / nön | Nrön | Jyeṣṭhā | 心 Heart | α Sco (Antares) | α Sco (Antares) |
| 18 | སྣྲུབས། | nup˥˧ | snrubs | nub | Nup | Mūla | 尾 Tail | λ Sco (Shaula) | λ Sco (Shaula) |
| 19 | ཆུ་སྟོད། | t͡ɕʰu˥˥.tøʔ˥˧ | chu-stod | qu doi / qu dö | Chutö | Pūrvāṣādhā | 箕 Winnowing Basket | δ Sgr | δ Sgr |
| 20 | ཆུ་སྨད། | t͡ɕʰu˥˥.mɛʔ˥˧ | chu-smad | qu mai / qu mä | Chume | Uttarāṣādhā | 斗 Dipper | σ Sgr | σ Sgr |
| 21 | གྲོ་བཞིན། | ʈ͡ʂʰo˨˩.ɕĩ˩˦ | gro-bzhin | cho xin | Drozhin | Uttara-Āṣādhā | 牛 Ox | α Lyr (Vega) | α Aql (Altair) |
| བྱི་བཞིན། | t͡ɕʰi˨˩.ɕĩ˩˦ | byi-bzhin | qi xin | Jizhin | Śravaṇa | 女 Woman | α Aql (Altair) | α Lyr (Vega) | |
| 22 | མོན་གྲེ། | mø̃˨˩.ʈ͡ʂe˥˦ | mon-gre | moin zhê / mön zhê | Mondre | Dhaniāstha | 虚 Emptiness | β Del (Rotanev) | λ Aqr (Shatabhisha) |
| 23 | མོན་གྲུ། | mø̃˨˩.ʈ͡ʂu˥˦ | mon-gru | moin zhu / mön zhu | Mondru | Satabhiṣak | 危 Rooftop | λ Aqr (Shatabhisha) | β Del (Rotanev) |
| 24 | ཁྲུམས་སྟོད། | ʈ͡ʂʰum˥˥.tøʔ˥˧ | khrums-stod | chum doi / chum dö | Trumtö | Pūrva-Bhādrapadā | 室 Encampment | α Peg (Markab) | α Peg (Markab) |
| 25 | ཁྲུམས་སྨད། | ʈ͡ʂʰum˥˥.mɛʔ˥˧ | khrums-smad | chum mai / chum mä | Trume | Uttara-Bhādrapadā | 壁 Wall | γ Peg (Algenib) / α And (Alpheratz) | γ Peg (Algenib) |
| 26 | ནམ་གྲུ། | nam˨˩.ʈ͡ʂu˥˦ | nam-gru | nam zhu | Namdru | Revatī | 奎 Legs | σ Psc | ζ Psc |
Tibetan zodiac based on Rashi
| Tibetan | Indian (Hindu) | IAU-modern | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sanskrit | Transliteration | ||
| Luk | मेष | Mesha | Aries |
| Lang | वृषभ | Vrishabha | Taurus |
| Trik | मिथुन | Mithuna | Gemini |
| Karkata | कर्क | Karka/ Karkata | Cancer |
| Senge | सिंह | Simha | Leo |
| Pumo | कन्या | Kanya | Virgo |
| Sangwa | तुला | Tula | Libra |
| Dikpa | वृश्चिक | Vrishchika | Scorpius |
| Zhu | धनु | Dhanu | Sagittarius |
| Chusin | मकर | Makara | Capricornus |
| Bumpa | कुंभ | Kumbha | Aquarius |
| Nya | Meena | Pisces | |
Tibetan Community in Tibet
| Tibetan Tern | Meaning | Designation | Comment |
|---|---|---|---|
References
- References (general)
- ↑ Mara Johnson-Groh (2013). Stories of the Stars: The History and Folklore of Tibetan Ethnoastronomy. http://digitalcollections.sit.edu/isp_collection/1567
