Hadar

Meanings

1. The second brightest star in the constellation of Centaurus, Beta Centauri

Etymology

From Arabic حضار. In Star-Names and Their Meanings, Richard Hinckley Allen writes, "Ḥḍar and Wazn, Ground and Weight, seem to have been applied without much definiteness to α and β of this constellation, and to stars in Argo, Columba, and Canis Major, probably on account of their proximity to the horizon; the meridian altitude of β, 1000 years ago at Cairo, is 30° of north latitude, being only 4°. Hyde, however, said that α and γ were the stars referred to by these Arabic titles." However, the word حضار does not normally mean "ground" but settled land.