astronomy words and definitions
Jul/100
What is the difference between the definition and meaning of the words “Astronomy” and “Cosmology”
“Astronomy” is a Greek word that means “The Study of the Laws of the Stars.” (Astros = star) and (Nomos = law).
(The Greek word for “name,” which is “onoma,” is close, but “law” is correct in this case.)
So strictly speaking, “Astronomy” means “The study of the laws that govern the stars.”
“Cosmology” is also Greek, and it means “The study of the world.” (Kosmos = world) This comes from the time in which Greek-speaking people believed that the universe was a three-level “layer cake” type structure with the Underworld, or Hades, below, the Heavens above, and the World in which people live in between.
In the language of Greek philosophy, Kosmos meant “the total of all three layers.” So Kosmology–sorry, Cosmology–means the science of the entire universe.
As another answerer mentioned, you will be safe if you consider astronomy to be the study of celestial bodies and their makeup and motions, and cosmology to be the broader study of what can be known about the origins and destiny of the whole lovely thingamajig.
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