Constellations

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. Recognizable patterns formed by stars that are used for navigation and storytelling
2. Groups of stars that form specific shapes and figures in the sky used for orientation and mythological stories
3. Configurations of stars that create distinct images commonly named and utilized for celestial mapping

Etymology: Its Latin ancestor, "constellatio," was built from "com-," meaning "together," and "stella," meaning "star." The original sense was a grouping of stars whose arrangement was believed to influence human affairs, so the term carried astrological weight before it named the familiar star patterns. English took it from Old French, and the influence sense lingered in English talk of favorable or unfavorable alignments. "Stella" also gives us "stellar," and it is related to English "star," which is inherited from the same ancestral root rather than borrowed from Latin. The pattern-finding sense came later, as people across cultures traced figures such as the Plough or Orion across the sky. These groupings were not physical clusters. They were human arrangements imposed on scattered light, and sailors and storytellers relied on them to find direction and to carry tales from one generation to the next.

Synonyms: groupings, patterns, arrangements, configurations, constellate