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There are two words for moon in Proto-Indo-European, *lówksneh (cognate with 'lunar'), and *méhns (cognate with 'moon' and 'month'). I think that *lówksneh means "a shining moon" and is more common, and *méhns means "a measuring moon" in the sense of a month. I noticed that the Latin descendant for *méhns means "month", while luna in Latin means moon.

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    What is your question, exactly?
    – Draconis ♦
    Commented Mar 22, 2020 at 17:12
  • Why are there two words for moon and is that what they probably meant?
    – Number File
    Commented Mar 22, 2020 at 17:29
  • Very speculative, but "méhns" could come from an eariler "meh", cognate with "measure" - only a comment, I don't dare post this as a serious answer.
    – ngn
    Commented Mar 22, 2020 at 19:48

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The idea that *meH1- "to measure" is the same root as *meH1- "moon, month" has a parallel in Tocharian В yarm, AB yärm ‘measure’, Hittite arma ‘moon’.

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  • which is a possible cognate of year?
    – Anixx
    Commented Mar 23, 2020 at 13:08
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In PIE we have

mee̯ns - month

mee̯not(s) - Moon (crescent)

mee̯ros - large, grown

mee̯tis - measurement

mee̯dos - remedy, treatment (> medicine, medic)

mee̯dhi̯os - middle

mee̯trom - measurement tool

All these words are cognates.

We also have

louksna̯ - Moon

leukos - light

leukstrom - lamp

These words are cognates as well.

You can see that the root mee̯- had separate derivatives which meant both a month and the Moon.

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    "related" more than "cognate"... cognate usually refers to words in different languages that descend from the same word, which doesn't apply to a word family in one language.
    – curiousdannii ♦
    Commented Mar 23, 2020 at 13:31
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    @curiousdannii hmm I first time see this definition. I use "cognate" for any words derived from the same root.
    – Anixx
    Commented Mar 23, 2020 at 13:34
  • Maybe you're right. For example Wikipedia says "the English words dish and desk and the German word Tisch ("table") are cognates". Still feels odd and uncommon to me to talk about cognates only within one language rather than between two or more languages. That page also notes there is a specific term, doublet, for two words in the same language that have a shared origin.
    – curiousdannii ♦
    Commented Mar 23, 2020 at 13:37

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