Dictionary

Alpheratz en · PROPN

Pronunciation

• /ælˈfɪəræts/
• ăl-fĕ-rătsʹ

Etymology

From Arabic سُرَّةُ الْفَرَس (surratu l-faras, “the horse's navel”) (referring to Pegasus), from سُرَّة (surra, “navel”) + فَرَس (faras, “horse, steed”). Not related to alpha.

Meanings

1. A spectroscopic binary, visible as a second-magnitude blue-white star marking the head of the chained woman in the northern constellation of Andromeda (formerly seen as part of Pegasus), one of four stars in the asterism of the Great Square of Pegasus.
   • [Alpheratz, Alpherat, and Sirrah are from the Arabians' Al Surrat al Faras, the Horse's Navel, as this star formerly was associated with Pegasus, whence it was transferred to the Woman's hair; and some one has strangely called it Umbilicus Andromedae. But in all late Arabian astronomy taken from Ptolemy it was described as Al Rās al Mar'ah al Musalsalah, the Head of the Woman in Chains.] 1899, Richard Hinckley Allen, Star-Names and Their Meanings, New York: G. E. Stechert, page 35:
   • In the head of Andromeda, there is a star of the second magnitude called Alpheratz and is one of those which form the square of Pegasus[…]. Alpheratz is on an imaginary line drawn from the north-easternmost star in the square of the Great Bear, through the north polar star, and distant from the latter about 61 degrees. 1821, Thomas Kerigan, The Young Navigator's Guide to the Sidereal and Planetary Parts of Nautical Astronomy: Being the Theory and Practice of Finding the Latitude, the Longitude, and the Variation of the Compass by the Fixed Stars and Planets. […], London: Baldwin, Cradock & Joy, page 67:

Forms

Holonyms

Andromeda

Synonyms

Alpha Andromedae · Delta Pegasi · α Andromedae · δ Pegasi · δ Peg · Sirrah · α And