Talitha

The IAU catalogue's account

Applied in recent times from an abbreviation of the pre-Islamic Arabian name alqafza al-thalitha, "the Third Leap," for ι and κ UMa. This pair, with the pairs λ/μ and v/ξ UMa, composed the pre-Islamic Arabian asterism qafazat al-ziba', "the Leaps of the Gazelles," imagined as the tracks left by those animals. In some later tradition, qafazat al-ziba' and adjacent asterisms were associated in a fable, where several gazelles leaped away from the Lion into a pond, leaving their tracks behind.

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.