Almach

The IAU catalogue's account

The formation of this name begins with the Arabic name for this star: ʿanaq al-ard, "the Caracal" (a black-eared feline predator found in the Middle East). The Arabs also gave the name in short form as al-ʿanaq, which became transliterated into Medieval Latin as alamac. Later, the derivatin of alamac was erroneously attributed to the assumed Arabic word al-maq (properly al-muq) for "the boot" or "buskin", rather than to al-ʿanaq. Subsequently the erroneous word, as "Almaak" and later "Almach" was applied as a star name to γ And, mostly in astronomical works in English. Other, non-English works use the spelling "Alamak" derived directly from the Medieval Latin transliteration.

Source language

Arabic

Reference

Kunitzsch, Paul; Smart, Tim (2006). A Dictionary of Modern star Names: A Short Guide to 254 Star Names and Their Derivations (2nd rev. ed.). Cambridge, Massachusetts: Sky Pub.

Source: IAU Catalog of Star Names (IAU-CSN), Working Group on Star Names. The account is the IAU's own text and is quoted in full: it is published under CC BY.