Regulus

The IAU catalogue's account

The name is a Latin translation of the ancient Greek name for this star: βασιλίσκος, "the (little) King" or "the Kingly One", which is a translation of the Sumerian name of the star: LUGAL (The King). The Romans, following the Greeks, called the star stella regia, "the Royal Star". Later, the Medieval Latin Almagest, translating from the Arabic (where in one version the original Greek diminutive had been lost), had rex, "the King". The form "Regulus" (again, the [little] King") first appears in 1522, obviously formed by some Early Modern scholar after the Greek diminutive name.

Source language

Latin

Reference

MUL.APIN I i 9 (Hunger and Steele 2019). 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.