What it means
نجوم (nojum) means astronomy, the scientific study of stars, planets, and other celestial bodies. The word comes from Arabic نُجُوم (nujum), which is the plural of نَجم (najm), meaning star. In Persian it has taken on the sense of the discipline itself, not just the stars. A person who practices astronomy is a منجم (monajjem). Note that نجوم historically overlapped with astrology before the two fields were separated, and the same word منجم could refer to either a court astrologer or an astronomer in classical texts.
How to use it
- نجوم یکی از قدیمیترین علوم بشریه. (nojum yeki az qadimi-tarin olum-e bashariye.) “Astronomy is one of the oldest sciences of humanity.”
- اون توی رصدخانه داره نجوم رو مطالعه میکنه. (un tu-ye rasadkhane dare nojum ro motale-e mi-kone.) “He is studying astronomy at the observatory.”
- علاقهم به نجوم از بچگی شروع شد. (alaqe-am be nojum az bachegi shoroo shod.) “My interest in astronomy started from childhood.”
- دانشگاه ما یه گروه نجوم قوی داره. (daneshgah-e ma ye goruh-e nojum-e qavi dare.) “Our university has a strong astronomy department.”
Cultural note
Persian and Arab scholars were among the most accomplished astronomers in the medieval world. Scholars working in Khorasan and Baghdad between the eighth and thirteenth centuries translated Greek astronomical texts, corrected errors in Ptolemy’s calculations, and produced star catalogs that shaped European astronomy for centuries. Many star names in use today, such as Aldebaran and Betelgeuse, are of Arabic origin and reached European languages via these same scholars. In modern Iran, نجوم is taught at university level and the country operates several observatories, including the Biruni Observatory near Shiraz, named after the great medieval Persian polymath.