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I'm looking for a shorter way of saying "The far side of the Moon" (meaning that either literally, or by association). Preferably in one word.

"Synthetic" English, Latin and other non-English (i.e. foreign language, not customarily used in English texts) words will do too (sadly, no linguistics.stackexchange.com out there).

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To Floyd-ian boon, you seek to shorten the dark side of the moon, if a portmanteau will do, I suggest posterilune. – BBischof May 1 '11 at 20:43
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Note that "dark" and "far" side of the Moon is not the same. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Far_side_of_the_Moon#History – Alexander Gladysh May 1 '11 at 20:49
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But posterilune is nice, why don't you add it as a proper answer? – Alexander Gladysh May 1 '11 at 20:50
I did see that. I was attempting humor. – BBischof May 1 '11 at 20:51
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@Alennano: In the New Moon the closest to Earth side of the Moon is the dark one. – Alexander Gladysh May 1 '11 at 21:16
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4 Answers

up vote 4 down vote accepted

As suggested:

Earlier I tried to be cute,
but ended looking a rube,
So for far-side of moon,
just say posterilune,
else more poems you'll see, awfully crude.

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Of course, "posterior" and "moon" can be synonymous... ;) – MT_Head Jun 21 '11 at 23:26
up vote 6 down vote

You could speak of the translunar surface, the way the we refer to Roman-era transalpine Gaul vs. cisalpine Gaul ("beyond the Alps Gaul" and "this side of the Alps Gaul").

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Or (for another roughly alpine analogy) ultralunar like ultramontanist? Though I guess that is more beyond than behind... – Benjol May 2 '11 at 8:38
Translunar surface has five syllables, just as many as far side of the moon. – Peter Shor Jun 22 '11 at 0:37
@Peter Shor: The question says "fewer words" — not syllables. ^_^ – Robusto Jun 22 '11 at 0:38
Translunar already has established definitions incompatible with phrase "translunar surface"; to wit: "Situated beyond the moon or its orbit around the earth", "During transit from the Earth to the Moon", and "Outside the moon's orbit about the earth". – jwpat7 Apr 24 '12 at 14:16
up vote 1 down vote

My first thought was to construct a word similar to "apogee" or "aphelion", so I thought "apolunar." Unfortunately, this word exists (interestingly, an example of a Greek-Latin hybrid), and it doesn't mean that. So I thought the all Greek version might work for you, but "aposelene" also already has a meaning.

I share this because I thought it was interesting. Given that my ideas were taken, I'm voting for posterilune.

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up vote 0 down vote

The middle of the far side of the Moon is the antipodal point to the Earth.

By analogy to other shiny round silver things often required for romantic evenings, i.e. coins, you could call the far side the reverse - and the near side the obverse.

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Wouldn't work without appending "of the Moon". "Hey, have you seen obverse tonight?" – Alexander Gladysh Jun 22 '11 at 3:25

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