4/14/2024 0 Comments One entence with astrologyIt may help you to distinguish between them if you remember that astrology is related to astrologaster, a now obsolete word that was once a derogatory term for one who purported to study the stars. We understand that it can be difficult to remember the difference between two such words, both of which begin with the same letters and have meanings concerned with outer-space-stuff. Astrology is defined as “the divination of the supposed influences of the stars and planets on human affairs and terrestrial events by their positions and aspects.” The word supposed in the definition for astrology performs multiple functions: it indicates that the claims made by astrologers are widely viewed as unscientific, and it also stands as a placeholder for the screams of anguish from thousands of science teachers when students confuse astronomy and astrology. We define astronomy as “the study of objects and matter outside the earth's atmosphere and of their physical and chemical properties” this is the word scientists use, and the word you would expect to see on the cover of your college textbook. In modern use the two words have quite different meanings, but for hundreds of years they were synonymous. Both words are quite old ( astronomy is from the 12th century, and astrology from the 14th), and both share a root with the word disaster (the Greek astron, meaning “star”).
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