Leepwal

original spelling Ļeepwal (pronounced leyepwal, the first "l" being pronounced with the back of the tongue raised (velarized) and the root of the tongue retracted (pharyngealized) so as to elongate the oral cavity, thereby giving the consonant a "heavier" or "darker" sound) is the name for ζ Cen in Marshallese.

Etymology and History

This star name originates from the Marshall Islands. Ļeepwal is the third child of Lōktañūr (Capella), the mother of all stars.

The name Ļeepwal (in modern Marshallese) was originally recorded as Läbôol by the Catholic missionary August Erdland, who lived in the Jaluit Atoll from 1904 to 1914 (Erdland 1914: 79 #25).

The mother of all great stars, her ten offspring being Tūṃur (Antares (α Sco), or Paikauhale, Antares, and Alniyat (τ, α, and σ Sco)), the eldest; Ḷōmejdikdik (Shaula (λ Sco), Lesath (υ Sco), ι Sco, and κ Sco), the second; Ḷeepwal (ζ Cen), the third; Ad (Arcturus (α Boo)), the fourth; Mājlep (Altair, Alshain, and Tarazed (α, β, and γ Aql)), the fifth; Da (Spica (α Vir), the sixth; Jitata (Sadachbia (γ Aqr), ζ and π Aqr), the seventh; Ḷokwan-Ḷakeke (Cassiopeia), the eighth; Jāpe (Sualocin (α Del), Rotanev (β Del) and γ Del), the ninth; and Jebrọ (or Jeḷeilōñ), Alcyone (η Tau) in the Pleiades, the youngest [Abo et al. 2019, various entries]

IAU Working Group Star Names

The name was discussed and approved by the IAU WGSN 2022-2024. applied to the star ... in the IAU-CSN.

Weblinks

• Abo, Takaji, Byron W. Bender, Alfred Capelle, and Tony DeBrum (2019). Marshallese-English Online Dictionary. Honolulu: University of Hawai‘i Press. https://ling.lll.hawaii.edu/dicts/MOD/.
• Erdland, P. August (1914). Die Marshall-Insulaner. Münster i.W.: Aschendorff (Bibliothèque-anthropos, 2(1)).
• Johnson, Rubellite, John Mahelona and Clive Ruggles (in press, publication expected in 2026). Nā Inoa Hōkū: Hawaiian and Pacific Star Names, 3rd edn. Honolulu: University of Hawai‘i Press.