Every glance at the moon, in whatever phase, pinpoints our existence on earth. For the sky is the only phenomenon that can be seen from all points on the planet — Mary Ruefle

“The moon was one of humankind’s first timepieces long before the first written language, before the earliest organized cities and well before structured religions,” Science News reports.

Our understanding of the moon, as a “heavenly body which revolves about the earth monthly,” comes from the old English word mōna, with its origins in the Proto-Indo-European mēnsis, which means month, from the root *me, “to measure” — in context to the moon’s phases as an ancient marker of time.

“For millennia, humans have used the movement of the moon to keep track of the passing year and set schedules for hunting, planting, and harvesting,” National Geographic reports.

Every month, our view of the Earth’s moon constantly transforms as it wanes and waxes, reflecting light from the sun in its lunar phase cycle of new moon to full moon and back again.

“Ancient cultures the world over have given these full moons names based on the behavior of the plants, animals, or weather during that month,” National Geographic reports.

The name Luna, from the Roman goddess of the moon, is often used in scientific writing or sci-fi to discern Earth’s moon from others, and as personification in poetry.

Many full moon month names in English are interpretations taken from different Native American languages, on themes relating to the winter, crop availability, fishing and hunting.