Names
The English astronomer William Gilbert was the first to give a name to this mare, calling it Insula Medilunaria ("Middlemoon Island"). The idea for its present name originates with Michael Van Langren, who labelled it Sinus Medius in his 1645 map. Johannes Hevelius called the feature Mare Adriaticum ("The Adriatic Sea") in his 1647 map. Giovanni Riccioli called it Sinus Aestuum ("Bay of Hot Days") in his 1651 map.
Read more about this topic: Sinus Medii
Famous quotes containing the word names:
“There are names written in her immortal scroll at which Fame blushes!”
—William Hazlitt (1778–1830)
“It was a poetic recreation to watch those distant sails steering for half-fabulous ports, whose very names are a mysterious music to our ears.... It is remarkable that men do not sail the sea with more expectation. Nothing was ever accomplished in a prosaic mood.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“Tonight there are only the winter stars.
The sky is no longer a junk-shop,
Full of javelins and old fire-balls,
Triangles and the names of girls.”
—Wallace Stevens (1879–1955)