I recently learned a few Greek/Latin facts. Might as well share them here.
Ulysses and Odysseus
Ulysses and Odysseus are the same guy. Odysseus is his Greek name, Ulysses is the Latin translation. Originally, only the Latin versions of the stories survived, so it was known as Ulysses. In the 1900s(?) the Greek versions of the story was (re)discovered. So, for a while Odysseus was the name used in scholarship, but the popular one was still Ulysses. Eventually, Odysseus took over in popularity, maybe because "an odyssey" became a known term.
Heracles and Hercules
Are the same dude too. Hercules is the most well-known name, but it's the Latin one. His Greek name has a lot more meaning. He was the result of an affair between Zeus and Alcmene. He was given the name Heracles, meaning something like "Pride of Hera" to try to reduce her hatred of him.
Zeus
Zeus was actually pronounced in Ancient Greek as effectively something like /zdeu̯s/ in IPA or "zdayoos" in sorta phonetic English. You may recognize that pronunciation as the Latin "deus" meaning god. The Greeks called their gods "theos", which is similar but unrelated to "deus". So, the Romans took their word for "god" from the main god of the Greeks. The Greeks took the name of their main god from the Proto-Indo-European Dyēus, the god of the daytime sky.
Planet Names
The only planet with a Greek name is Uranus, named for Ouranous, who is the grandfather of Zeus.
If the other celestial bodies went by their Greek names it would be:
- Sol -> Helios
- Mercury -> Hermes
- Venus -> Aphrodite
- Earth (Terra) -> Gaia
- Luna (Moon) -> Selene
- Mars -> Ares
- Jupiter -> Zeus
- Saturn -> Cronus
- Uranus (Ouranous) [Greek] -> Caelus [Latin], see "ciel" in French, "cielo" in Spanish, etc.
- Neptune -> Poseidon
Also, when they started naming some of the outer planets they started with Jupiter, then Jupiter's father Saturn, Ouranus is the father of Cronus, the Greek equivalent of Saturn. So the 6th planet is the father of the 5th, and the 7th planet is the father of the 6th. But the 8th planet is the brother of the 5th.
Months
- January / Janus, doesn't really have a Greek equivalent
- February, not named after a god
- March / Mars -> Ares
- April, not named after a good
- May / Maia (same name in Roman and Greek)
- June / Juno -> Hera
- July / Julius Caesar
- August / Augustus Caesar
- September, septem being the Latin number 7, used for the 9th month
- October, octo being the Latin number 8, used for the 10th month
- November, novem being the Latin number 9, used for the 11th month
- December, decem being the Latin number 10, used for the 12th month