astrognosy

English

Etymology

Ultimately from Ancient Greek ἄστρον (ástron, “celestial body”)) + γνῶσις (gnôsis, “knowledge”). Compare geognosy.

Noun

astrognosy (uncountable)

1. The science or knowledge of the stars, especially the fixed stars. [From 1828.]
   • 1830, Constellations, entry in Francis Lieber (editor), Encyclopaedia Americana, Volume 3, Carey and Lea, page 464,

     One of the best works on astrognosy, in the present state of this science, is Bode's Anleitung zur Kenntniss des gestirnten Himmels, 9th ed. Berlin, 1823, with plates (Guide to the Knowledge of the Starry Heavens).

   • 1851, Alexander von Humboldt, translated by E. C. Otté, Cosmos: A Sketch of a Physical Description of the Universe, Volume 3, Henry G. Bohn, page 29:

     The uranological, when opposed to the telluric domain of the Cosmos, may be conveniently separated into two divisions, one of which comprises astrognosy, or the region of the fixed stars, and the other our solar and planetary system.

   • 1889, H. P. Blavatsky, Lucifer, Volume 4: March—August 1889, The Theosophical Publishing Company, page 183,

     Furthermore, it is to the Chaldean astrolatry that modern astrognosy owes its progress, and it is the astronomical calculations of the Magi that became the ground-work of our present mathematical astronomy and have guided discoverers in their researches.

Related terms

• astrognostic
• astrognostical

Translations

science or knowledge of the stars

• Finnish: astrognosia
• Polish: astrognozja f

References

• “astrognosy”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.