Why is the constellation Ursa Minor instead of Ursus Minor?

Question

One of the mythological origins for the constellation Ursa Minor is that it was created by Zeus, who transformed Arcas into the constellation after preventing him from killing his mother, Callisto.

It makes sense that the female Callisto would become a constellation named Ursa Major, but why did Arcas become Ursa Minor and not Ursus Minor? Is it because it got its name from a different myth where the transformed individual was female, and if so, why did the name remain the same?

score 24 · Accepted Answer · answered Dec 19 '22 at 12:00

24

Greek ἄρκτος is grammatically feminine, both in the meaning “bear” (of either sex) and as the name of the constellation. Latin has ursa for “bear” (of either sex), but also ursus specifically for a male bear. The Latin name – or rather its gender – is calqued on the Greek.

answered Dec 19 '22 at 12:00

fdb

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Learned a new word today: calque. – chux - Reinstate Monica Dec 19 '22 at 19:01
I wonder why the Greek word is feminine, since ἄρκτος and ursus are cognate – Asteroides Dec 20 '22 at 03:46
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@chux-ReinstateMonica Did you also notice that calque is a loanword and loanword is a calque? ;-) – Todd Wilcox Dec 20 '22 at 04:44
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@Asteroides. ursus implies IE Hrtƙo- but arktos implies metathesized Hrƙto-. So they are cognates, but not identical. – fdb Dec 20 '22 at 12:36
@Asteroides Actually ἄρκτος is given with both genders, depending of the sex of the animal. Considering the declension, it was originally masculine, which is the default gender I guess. – Vincent Krebs Dec 21 '22 at 13:35
@Vincent: In Greek, the default and perhaps even only gender of ἄρκτος was feminine according to the discussion here: Why is ἄρκτος always feminine?, Textkit Greek and Latin Forums – Asteroides Dec 22 '22 at 02:09
@Asteroides May very well be so. Although both the Bailly and Magnien-Lacroix give both genders, Chantraine, who is a very reliable source, states that the examples in the masculine are "dubious". Still, this is the masculine declension, so who knows... – Vincent Krebs Dec 22 '22 at 04:30

Why is the constellation Ursa Minor instead of Ursus Minor?

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