Name and etymology

The English word sun developed from Old English sunne. Cognates appear in other Germanic
languages, including West Frisian sinne, Dutch zon, Low German Sünn, Standard German Sonne,
Bavarian Sunna, Old Norse sunna, and Gothic sunnō. All these words stem from Proto-Germanic
*sunnōn.[24][25] This is ultimately related to the word for sun in other branches of the Indo-
European language family, though in most cases a nominative stem with an l is found, rather than the
genitive stem in n, as for example in Latin sōl, ancient Greek ἥλιος (hēlios), Welsh haul and Russian
солнце (solntse; pronounced sontse), as well as (with *l > r) Sanskrit स्वर (svár) and Persian ‫( خور‬xvar).
Indeed, the l-stem survived in Proto-Germanic as well, as *sōwelan, which gave rise to Gothic sauil
(alongside sunnō) and Old Norse prosaic sól (alongside poetic sunna), and through it the words for
sun in the modern Scandinavian languages: Swedish and Danish solen, Icelandic sólin, etc.[25]

In English, the Greek and Latin words occur in poetry as personifications of the Sun, Helios (/ˈhiːliəs/)
and Sol (/ˈsɒl/),[2][1] while in science fiction Sol may be used as a name for the Sun to distinguish it
from other stars. The term sol with a lower-case s is used by planetary astronomers for the duration
of a solar day on another planet such as Mars.[26]

The principal adjectives for the Sun in English are sunny for sunlight and, in technical contexts, solar (/
ˈsoʊlər/),[3] from Latin sol[27] – the latter found in terms such as solar day, solar eclipse and Solar
System (occasionally Sol system). From the Greek helios comes the rare adjective heliac (/ˈhiːliæk/).
[28]

The English weekday name Sunday stems from Old English Sunnandæg "sun's day", a Germanic
interpretation of the Latin phrase diēs sōlis, itself a translation of the ancient Greek ἡμέρα ἡλίου
(hēmera hēliou) 'day of the sun'.[29]

In 1842, the founder of the Mormon Church, Joseph Smith, claimed to have translated the Book of
Abraham from Egyptian papyri by "inspiration" from God.[30] In Abraham 3:13, Smith wrote that God
told Abraham that the name of the sun was "Shinehah".[31]