Zubenelgenubi

The IAU catalogue's account

Applied in Early Modern times from its name for the Arabic Almagest period al-zubana al-janubi, the Southern Claw ( of the Scorpion)." The stars of Libra were interpreted by the Baby!onians as "the Claws of Scorpius" (thus forming a much larger Scorpion), and alternatively (perhaps in a more recent stage) they were made an independent constellation, "the Balance." Both these conceptions lived on until the Greeks and, partly, the pre-Islamic Arabians. Previous to Greek influences, the pre-Islamic Arabians used the name al-zubanayan, "the Two Claws ( of the Scorpion}," for the lunar mansion marked by α and β Lib. (Ind-A al-zubanayan is obviously related etymologically to Babylonian zibanutu, but the latter, also marked by α and β Lib, meant "the Balance"). Our modern name is occasionally seen abbreviated as Zuben'ubi".

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.