This list has been put together by myself and Dr. Heikki Sipilä. Most of the translations have been gathered from various dictionaries in libraries and in the Internet. For an introduction to various alphabets and writing systems, have a look at Omniglot.
The translations may not be completely accurate, but they should give you a rough idea of the name’s literal meaning.
If you encounter problems—such as some characters appearing as boxes or question marks—you probably do not have suitable fonts installed. WAZU JAPAN’s Gallery of Unicode Fonts and Alan Wood’s Unicode Resources contain many links to freely available Unicode fonts.
A PDF version of the list is also available.
| language | name | literal meaning | notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Afrikaans | hemelstraat | heavenly street | |
| Albanian | rruga e qumështit | milky way | |
| Arabic | درب التبانة [darb at-tabbāna] | straw path | درب = path; تبن = straw |
| Armenian | Յարդ զողի Ճանապարհ [hard zoghi chanaparh] | յարդ = straw; ճանապարհ = way | |
| Ծիր կաթին [tsir kat’in] | ծիր = circle, orbit; կաթ = milk | ||
| Asturian; Bable | Camín de Santiagu | Santiago’s way | |
| Azerbaijani | Ağ yol (Ағ јол) | white way | |
| Süd yolu (Сүд јолу) | milky way | ||
| Kəhkəşan (Кәһкәшан) | Persian influence | ||
| Bashkir | Ҡаҙ Юлы (Ҡош Юлы) | bird’s way | |
| Basque | Santio-bide | bide = road | |
| Santiago-bide | bide = road | ||
| Esnebide | milky way | ||
| Belarusian | Млечны Шлях | milky way | |
| Bengali | ছায়াপথ [chāyāpath] | shadow way | |
| হরিতাসি [haritāsi] | |||
| Bulgarian | Млечен път | milky way | |
| Buriat | Тэнгэриин Зуйдэл | heavenly seam | |
| Catalan; Valencian | Via Làctia | milky way | |
| Chechen | Ча Такхийна Тача | ча = straw; тача = path | |
| Chinese | 银河 (trad. 銀河) [yín hé] | silver river | |
| 天河 [tiān hé] | heavenly river | ||
| Chuvash | Кайӑк хур ҫулӗ | wild goose’s way | |
| Croatian | Mlečni put | milky way | |
| Mlečna staza | milky way | ||
| Kumova slama | kumova = godfather’s; slama = straw | ||
| Czech | Mléčná dráha | milky way | |
| Danish | Mælkevejen | milky way | |
| Dutch; Flemish | Melkweg | milky way | |
| English | Milky Way | milky way | |
| Erzya | Каргонь ки | crane’s way | |
| Esperanto | lakta vojo | milky way | |
| Estonian | Linnutee | bird’s way | |
| Evenki | Тулнудек | ski track | |
| Faroese | Vetrarbreyt | winter path | |
| Finnish | Linnunrata | bird’s course | |
| French | Voie lactée | milky way | |
| German | Milchstraße | milky way | |
| Greek | Γαλαξίας | γαλα = milk; γαλαξίας = milk tooth (!) | |
| Hawaiian | Hoku-noho-aupuni | hoku = star; noho aupuni = reign | |
| Hebrew | שביל החלב [shvil he-khalav] | milky way | |
| Hindi | आकाश गंगा [ā-kāsh gangā] | heavenly Ganges | |
| मंदाकिनी [mandākinī] | |||
| Hungarian | tejút | milky way | |
| Icelandic | Vetrarbrautin | winter’s path | |
| Indonesian | Bimasakti (Bima Sakti) | ||
| Interlingua | via lactee | milky way | |
| Irish | Bealach na Bó Finne | way of white cow | |
| Italian | Via Lattea | milky way | |
| Japanese | 天の川 [amanogawa] | river of heaven | |
| 天の河 [amanogawa] | river of heaven | ||
| 銀漢 [ginkan] | 銀 = silver; 漢 = China | ||
| 天河 [tenga] | river of heaven | ||
| 天漢 [tenkan] | 天 = heaven; 漢 = China | ||
| 銀河 [ginga] | silver river | ||
| Kalaallisut; Greenlandic | qilaup sivdlia (ĸilaup sivdlia) | ||
| Kalmyk | Тэңгрин Уйдл | heavenly seam | |
| Kara-Kalpak | Қус Жолы | bird’s way | |
| Karachay-Balkar | Къой Джол | sheep’s way | |
| Kazakh | Құс жолы | bird’s way | |
| Komi | Утка туй | duck’s way | |
| Korean | 은하수 [unhasu] | ||
| Koryak | Мыльтайв’аям | ||
| Kuanyama; Kwanyama | omulalavili | ||
| Kirghiz | Кой Жолу | sheep’s way | |
| Саманчы Жол | straw way | ||
| Куш Жолу | falcon’s way | ||
| Latin | Via lactea | milky way | |
| Latvian | Piena Ceļš | milky way | |
| Putnu Ceļš | bird’s course | ||
| Lithuanian | Paukščių Takas | way of birds | |
| Gervių Takas | way of cranes | ||
| Žąsų Takas | way of geese | ||
| Vėlių Kelias | way of souls | ||
| Macedonian | млечен пат | milky way | |
| кумова слама | |||
| Maltese | it-triq ta’ Sant’Anna | the street of Saint Anne | |
| Maori | Ika a Maui | fish of Maui | |
| Ika o te Rangi | fish of the sky | ||
| Ika Roa | long fish | ||
| Mari | Кайыккомбо корно | wild goose’s way | |
| Moksha | Каргонь Ки | crane’s way | |
| Нармонь Ки | bird’s way | ||
| Mongolian | тэнгэрийн заадал | heavenly seam | |
| тэнгэрийн оёдол | heavenly seam | ||
| Nepali | आकाशगंगा [ākāshagangā] | heavenly Ganges | |
| दूधधारा [dūdhadhārā] | दूध = milk; धरा = stream | ||
| Norwegian | Melkeveien | milky way | |
| Ossetian; Ossetic | Ӕрфӕны фӕд | ||
| Panjabi; Punjabi | ਅਕਾਸ਼ ਗੰਰਾ [akāsh ganrā] | ||
| Persian | كهكشان [kahkashān] | كه = straw | |
| كاهكشان [kāh-kashān] | كاه = straw | ||
| [rāhi kāh-kashān] | |||
| كاهنگان [kāhangān] | |||
| راه شیری [rāh shīrī] | milky way | ||
| [rāhi ḥājiyān] | pilgrim’s way | ||
| اسمان لار [āsmān lār] | heavenly way | ||
| Polish | Droga Mleczna | milky way | |
| Portuguese | Via Láctea | milky way | |
| Romanian | Calea Lactee | milky way | |
| Calea Laptelui | milky way | ||
| Calea lui Traian | |||
| Russian | Млечный Путь | milky way | |
| Sami, Northern | loddẹ ráidalas | loddi = bird; ráidalas = ladder | |
| Sami, Southern | guoksede | ||
| Scottish Gaelic | Geal-Shruth nan Speur | white stream of heaven | |
| Serbian | Млечни пут | milky way | |
| Млечна стаза | milky way | ||
| Кумова слама | кумова = godfather’s; слама = straw | ||
| Slovak | Mliečna dráha | milky way | |
| Slovenian | rimska cesta | Roman road | |
| Somali | marin shimbireed | bird’s route | |
| Spanish | Vía Láctea | milky way | |
| Camino de Santiago | road of St. James | James was one of Christ’s twelve disciples | |
| Swedish | Vintergatan | winter street | |
| Tagalog | pulóng-bituín | ||
| landás na bituín | |||
| ariwanas | |||
| Tajik | Роҳи каҳкашон | ||
| Гоҳангон | |||
| Tatar | Киек каз юлы | wild goose’s way | |
| Thai | ทางช้างเผือก [thang cháng-phùeak] | white elephant’s way | |
| Tswana | mola wa godimo | ||
| Turkish | samanyolu | saman = straw; yol = way | |
| samanuğrusu | saman = straw | ||
| kehkeşan | Persian influence | ||
| gökdere | gök = celestial; dere = brook, valley | ||
| hacılar yolu | pilgrim’s way | ||
| Turkmen | Akmaýanyň Ýoly (Акмаяның Ёлы) | ýol = way, road | |
| Udmurt | Млечной путь | clearly a direct loan from Russian | |
| Uighur; Uyghur | سامان يولى (Саман йоли) | straw way | |
| Ukrainian | Чумацький Шлях | чумак = an ox driver; шлях = way | |
| Молочний Шлях | milky way | ||
| Uzbek | Somon yo’li (Сомон йўли) | straw way | |
| Vietnamese | Ngân Hà | silver river | |
| Welsh | y llwybr llaethog | milky way | |
| y ffordd wen | fford = way | ||
| caer Gwydion | castle of Gwydion | Gwydion is a Welsh god | |
| caer Arianrhod | castle of Arianrhod | Arianrhod, lit. “silver wheel”, is a Welsh goddess | |
| Xhosa | umnyele wezulu | ||
| Yakut | Халлаан сиигэ | ||
| Yiddish | מילכװעג [milkhveg] | milky way | |
| Zulu | umthala |
Dainis Dravins: Faroese, Latvian; Juan Lajo: Asturian; Manwel Mifsud: Maltese; Alberto Millán Martín: Catalan.