morning star

See also: morningstar and Morning Star

English

Alternative forms

• morningstar

Etymology

From morning +‎ star. Compare West Frisian moarnstjer, Dutch morgenster, German Morgenstern, Swedish morgonstjärna, Icelandic morgunstjarna. Application to Satan derives, like the corresponding sense of Lucifer (which see), from what is probably a misinterpretation of Isaiah 14:12 (NIV: "How you have fallen from heaven, morning star, son of the dawn! You have been cast down to the earth, you who once laid low the nations!").

Noun

morning star (plural morning stars)

1. (astronomy, with definite article) The planet Venus as observed in the eastern sky around dawn.

   Synonyms: Phosphorus, Eosphorus

   Antonyms: evening star, Hesperus

   The evening star is the morning star. (Hesperus is Phosphorus.)

   • 1847, Alfred Tennyson, “Part III”, in The Princess: A Medley, London: Edward Moxon, […], OCLC 2024748, page 47:

     Morn in the white wake of the morning star / Came furrowing all the orient into gold.

   • 1979, Paul Williams and Kenneth Ascher, “The Rainbow Connection”, The Muppet Movie, Henson Associates and ITC Entertainment

     Who said that every wish would be heard and answered / When wished on the morning star? / Somebody thought of that, and someone believed it / And look what it's done so far.

2. (less commonly) The planet Mercury as observed in the eastern sky around dawn.

   Synonym: Apollo

   Antonyms: evening star, Hermes

3. (military) A weapon consisting of a heavy ball set with spikes attached rigidly to a staff, in contrast to a flail.

   Synonyms: holy water sprinkler, morgenstern

   • 1786, Francis Grose, A Treatise on Ancient Armour and Weapons, page 55:

     Contrivances like these, except that the balls were armed with spikes, were long carried by the pioneers of the trained bands, or city militia, they are generally called morning stars.

Translations

planet Venus as seen around dawn

• Arabic: ^{(please verify)} نَجْمَةُ الصَبَاح‎ f (najmatu ṣ-ṣabāḥ) / ^{(please verify)} نَجْمَة الصَبَاح‎ m (najma(t) aṣ-ṣabāḥ)
• Armenian: լուսաստղ (hy) (lusastł)
• Aromanian: lutseafir m
• Belarusian: дзянні́ца f (dzjanníca), зарані́ца f (zaraníca), ра́нішняя зо́рка f (ránišnjaja zórka)
• Bulgarian: зорни́ца f (zorníca), у́тринна звезда́ f (útrinna zvezdá)
• Catalan: estel del matí m
• Central Melanau: biteang wab
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 晨星 (san⁴ sing¹), 啟明, 启明 (kai² ming⁴)

  Mandarin: 晨星 (zh) (chénxīng), 啟明 (zh), 启明 (zh) (qǐmíng)

• Czech: jitřenka (cs) f
• Danish: morgenstjerne c
• Dutch: morgenster (nl) f
• Eastern Bontoc: fiataktakan, fiatakog
• Finnish: aamutähti (fi)
• French: étoile du matin (fr) f
• Galician: luceiro (gl) m, luceiro da mañá m, estrela da fartura f
• German: Morgenstern (de) m
• Gothic: 𐌰𐌿𐌶𐌰𐌽𐌳𐌹𐌻 m (auzandil)
• Greek: Εωσφόρος (el) m (Eosfóros)

  Ancient: ἑωσφόρος m (heōsphóros), Ἑωσφόρος m (Heōsphóros)

• Hebrew: הֵילֵל בֶּן שָׁחַר‎ (he) m (helél ben sháḥar), אַיֶּלֶת הַשָׁחַר‎ (he) f (ayélet ha-sháḥar)
• Hungarian: hajnalcsillag, esthajnalcsillag (hu)
• Hunsrik: Meuendsstern m
• Ilocano: baggak ti agsapa
• Irish: réalta na maidine f
• Italian: stella del mattino (it) m, lucifero m
• Japanese: 明けの明星 (ja) (あけのみょうじょう, ake no myōjō)
• Korean: 샛별 (ko) (saetbyeol)
• Latin: lūcifer, phōsphorus (la)
• Latvian: rīta zvaigzne f
• Lithuanian: aušrìnė žvaigždė̃ f (literally “dawning starstar”), rytìnė žvaigždė̃ f, rýto žvaigždė̃ f
• Lubuagan Kalinga: ambigaton
• Macedonian: Де́ница f (Dénica), Зо́рница f (Zórnica), де́ница f (dénica), зо́рница f (zórnica), у́тринска ѕве́зда f (útrinska dzvézda)
• Malay: bintang barat, bintang johar, bintang kejora, bintang pagi, bintang timur, bintang Zuhrah
• Maori: Kōpū, Tāwera
• Navajo: sǫʼtsoh, sǫʼtsoh łigaii, sǫʼ doo ńdízídí
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: morgenstjerne m or f

• Old English: ēarendel
• Polish: Gwiazda Poranna (pl) f, gwiazda poranna f, Jutrzenka (pl) f
• Punjabi: ਸਵੇਰ ਦਾ ਤਾਰਾ m (saver dā tārā)
• Portuguese: estrela d'alva (pt) f, Estrela d'Alva f
• Romanian: luceafăr (ro), luceafărul de dimineață, steaua dimineții (ro) f
• Russian: у́тренняя звезда́ f (útrennjaja zvezdá), денни́ца (ru) f (denníca)
• Scottish Gaelic: reul na maidne f
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: јутарња звезда f, јутарња звијезда f

  Roman: jutarnja zvezda f, jutarnja zvijezda f

• Slovak: zornička f, zornica f
• Slovene: jutranja zvezda f
• Southern Kalinga: amfikaton
• Spanish: lucero del alba m, estrella del alba f, lucífero (es) m
• Swedish: morgonstjärna (sv) c
• Tagalog: tala sa umaga
• Thai: ดาวประกายพรึก (daao-bprà-gaai-prʉ́k)
• Ukrainian: денни́ця f (dennýcja), зірни́ця f (zirnýcja), ранко́ва зі́рка f (rankóva zírka)
• Welsh: seren fore f
• Yiddish: מאָרגנשטערן‎ m (morgnshtern)

spiked weapon on staff

• Czech: kropáč (cs) m, morgenštern m
• Danish: morgenstjerne c
• Dutch: morgenster (nl) f
• Finnish: aamutähti (fi), piikkinuija
• French: étoile du matin (fr) f
• German: Morgenstern (de) m
• Italian: mazza ferrata f, stella del mattino (it) f
• Japanese: モーニングスター (mōningu sutā)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: morgenstjerne m or f

  Nynorsk: morgonstjerne f

• Polish: gwiazda poranna f, morgenstern m, morgensztern m
• Portuguese: maça de espinhos f
• Russian: моргенште́рн (ru) m (morgenštɛ́rn)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: јутарња звезда f, јутарња звијезда f

  Roman: jutarnja zvezda f, jutarnja zvijezda f

• Slovene: buzdovan m
• Spanish: lucero del alba m
• Swedish: morgonstjärna (sv)
• Vietnamese: chùy gai

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Italian: ^{(please verify)} stella del mattino (it) m, ^{(please verify)} mazza ferrata f
• Japanese: ^{(please verify)} モーニングスター (mōningu sutā)
• Romanian: ^{(please verify)} luceafărul de dimineață

See also

• (spiked weapon on staff): mace, truncheon

Further reading

• morning star on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• morning star (weapon) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Phosphorus (morning star) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia