Might I say "luna" for a woman's period?

March 10, 2024 9:48 AM

I'm writing a story that takes place nearabout 1900-1920. A female character visits an alchemist and refers to the start of her monthly period a few years before.

I want to have her saying, "Then the thing happened which brought that attention. It was the female luna." Or maybe just "luna." I know it was and has been called all sorts of things, and my ex used to call hers luna. The character is a little fanciful and unschooled. No reason this wouldn't work, is there?

posted by noelpratt2nd to Writing & Language (18 answers total)

I've heard "moon cycle" used in reference to periods, but not with the latin. Luna to me reads first as either as a name or else I just auto-translate it to "the moon." Your phrasing makes me wonder "what are the male and other gender versions of luna?" or "okay there is another character named Luna who does not identify as female."

Might help to demonstrate this unique vocabulary as a personal thing of the character or characters involved, a local or familial colloquialism. Presumably context makes it clear what "female luna" means either way, but alone, like, if a person told me they were on their female luna, I wouldn't necessarily know immediately what they meant (if only because that is information is rarely shared in conversation, on top of the new-to-me euphemism)
posted by GoblinHoney at 10:06 AM on March 10 [3 favorites]

Best answer: Sorry to double-post, missed the edit window, but just occurred to me, in natural reading of a story, I would immediately understand once I translated luna to moon and parse it as "I'm on my female moon" or even just "I'm on my moon." That tiny translation from luna to moon and association with periods and moons is enough to understand fast enough that in context I probably would not have the first two questions, I think I only had them because I'm going over an abstract example focusing on the particular phrase in isolation.
posted by GoblinHoney at 10:13 AM on March 10

You... can? If you want? What are you worried about if you do?

I dunno that it's an attested period usage, no pun intended, and if you are really looking to be historically accurate then there are resources to look this stuff up in. I've never heard it myself, but presumably you'd convey what you were talking about in the scene.

I will say that I can't imagine referring to my period as "the female [anything]", that's way too distanced and clinical. It'd be "my [preferred term]" (which could be "female luna" although I would Make Some Assumptions about a character that specified "female" there in the early 19th century) or "Luna came to visit" or similar, which, in conversation with someone who didn't know that euphemism, would be followed by vague, embarrassed gesturing or clarification with a more universal term. In a conversation with a male professional, that might be followed by *him* clarifying using the most clinical term he knew.
posted by restless_nomad at 10:14 AM on March 10 [4 favorites]

Best answer: I read a lot of work set in this era, and write early 20th historical fiction myself, and I would be very confused unless there was other context in the scene that she was talking about her period. But I mean, Madeline Basset says things like "The stars are God's daisy chain," so there is definitely precedent for loopy talk here.
posted by basalganglia at 10:45 AM on March 10 [3 favorites]

I don't think "Oh, she's on her period" would immediately translate to me if I read that. It feels like the speaker is being weird/cute on the topic. I'd probably just suggest looking up whatever period euphemisms were going around at the time and use that.
posted by jenfullmoon at 10:52 AM on March 10 [4 favorites]

I'm going to go against popular opinion and say, since the character is speaking to an alchemist, some phrase like this could work. An alchemist would probably refer to the Sun and Moon by their Latin names (Sol and Luna), so the character might want to refer to her cycle in those terms.

Depending on the gender of the alchemist and how familiar they are with the character, she could make an oblique reference reference like "you know the influence of Luna on the womb", or more straightforwardly "I began to show blood by the lunar cycle." (That is, if the character is referring to her *first* period.)

Best of luck with this!
posted by Pallas Athena at 11:11 AM on March 10

If you're writing historical fiction, this would ring wrong to my reading eyes; I'd expect more discreet language like 'the monthly cycle" or 'the womanly course's, not something twee and new-agey like 'luna'.

If you're writing AU, historical fantasy/paranormal, anything other than trying to be historically accurate? Or if your character is unusual, a twee type herself who might use very fanciful terms like Madeline Bassett? Luna it right up, all you like, I would take it as a telling sign of the different world or the uniqueness of the character.
posted by The otter lady at 11:27 AM on March 10 [17 favorites]

If you’re otherwise using standard 1st century American English, this is going to be odd and confusing. If you’re sprinkling your writing with other unusual terminology related to your worldbuilding, and this character generally talks like this, this will probably slide right in.
posted by Stacey at 11:32 AM on March 10 [3 favorites]

Madeline Basset says things like "The stars are God's daisy chain," so there is definitely precedent for loopy talk

MB expresses that kind of rot frequently but later - most of the novels are set at a time when nationalism had started to rear its ugly head with some force. She even ends up marrying an English nationalist.

She is also never taken seriously, even by people like Bertie and nobody would accuse Bertie of being bright…that’s why he needs Jeeves.

Only you know your characters of course.
posted by koahiatamadl at 12:04 PM on March 10 [2 favorites]

Alchemy reference website There are a lot of nice graphics and terms here. I would think that a woman from that era would speak in terms of her "course" and in terms of the Four Humors: Blood, Bile, Phlegm and Choleric. So maybe the New Moon Luna phase or something to that effect. A lot of medical terms currently in use have their roots in this language; for example, liver medicines are still called anti-cholenergics, but the concept of the Four Humors has long since been debunked. Anyway, I hope the Alchemy website will offer some other inspirations and suggestions for you.
posted by effluvia at 12:17 PM on March 10

No reason this wouldn't work, is there?

I have no linguistic advice, but I do have a writing-related question.

Will this phrase deepen your readers' relationship to and understanding of the character and her fictional world, or will it kick them out of it in order to either puzzle it out or think through a linguistic dissonance between the rest of the text and this phrase?

All that depends on context, but I would take as clear-eyed a view of it that you can. This advice is based on you loving an ex-girlfriend's phrase, which makes me slightly suspicious that it's a darling as in 'murder your darlings.'
posted by warriorqueen at 1:17 PM on March 10 [11 favorites]

If you're asking for tone reads, I'd find this creepy-sounding. People using euphemisms for menstruation is so common already, so coming up with a new one feels a little like "I'm uncomfortable even calling it a 'period' or 'cycle' and need to abstract it further." The connotation is gross and infantalizing. Since it's also a little confusing, I'd recommend adding in whimsy in other areas and just use a more common term to refer to her menstrual cycle.
posted by c'mon sea legs at 1:22 PM on March 10 [7 favorites]

people say all manner of things, now as then, it’d be no weirder 100 years ago than now. that is to say, it’s extremely weird. what wouldn’t work is if the person she was speaking to knew what she was talking about. they would say Your what now?

but realizing, just as she is saying it to a stranger, that nobody else on earth calls it that would be deeply embarrassing in a very realistic way & perhaps moderately revealing of character, the things she’s never discussed with other women to know the common terms for, the degree to which she expects to be understood without explaining herself, etc etc.
posted by queenofbithynia at 2:13 PM on March 10 [2 favorites]

I would think that a woman from that era would speak in terms of her "course" and in terms of the Four Humors: Blood, Bile, Phlegm and Choleric.

From 1900-20????

Now, there are a number of odd, twee, infantile, or embarrassed euphemisms for menstruation, and it's by no means impossible that some random housewife raised in ignorance and shame of her genitalia and unable to speak of such matters even with her friends might come up with some high-flown phrase for it. Your character using such a word would thus characterize her mother or her social circle in that way. So...it would work in that sense, but you should make sure that's what you want. Certainly it's going to stick out and the reader's going to have to think about it for a minute.
posted by praemunire at 2:56 PM on March 10 [2 favorites]

Here's an example of classified ads for abortions in the early 20th century. This could be insightful as to what terms were used for menstruation.
posted by fluttering hellfire at 6:26 PM on March 10 [2 favorites]

...it *was* the female Luna?

I'm guessing you've cut what the previous sentence actually was too, because that's not scanning super well either
Then *the thing happened* which brought that attention? It was the female luna.


While puzzling that sentence out, I think I would run through scenarios where I would wonder if you were talking about a creature (a wolf?), a month, a very elegant or beautiful lady or member of a society, or holds some kind of role of power (just assuming that Luna is maybe some slang or a title that I'm not familiar with), and I would need more context to realise your character is talking about menstruation.

So your character can be eccentric and come up with their own slang for something, but you'd have to make sure as a writer that the readers actually know what they're saying, which could come across clunkily.
posted by Elysum at 3:57 AM on March 11 [2 favorites]

If you are sticking to Edwardian era vocabulary, then no. Back then it was referred to as 'menses' , 'that time of the month' , and more casually as 'on the rag' (stemming from the usual practice at the time of wearing rags on a belt to contain the blood). I doubt the Latin 'luna' would have been used by an English speaking person.

If you're using a fantasy vocab generally, I suppose it fits, especially if you are establishing the character as odd or foreign in some way.
posted by ananci at 1:07 PM on March 11

menarche?
posted by j_curiouser at 9:35 AM on March 12