[originaltext] Although the practice of the old Roman religion disappeared m

Although the practice of the old Roman religion disappeared many centuries ago, some traces of the Roman gods are still present in our daily vocabulary. The names of the Roman sun god, Sol, and the moon goddess, Luna, are used frequently in our language.
    The word solar describes anything pertaining to the sun, and lunar anything pertaining to the moon. For example, the sun and the planets circling it are called the solar system. The period of time in which the earth circles the sun once is a solar year. The moon takes one lunar month to circle the earth. A lunar year of twelve lunar months is eleven days shorter than a solar year.
    In some cases our language shows how these heavenly bodies affect us directly. A room or place for sunbathing is often called a solarium. We get our word parasol from the Italian word meaning "a guard against the sun". For many centuries it was believed that the moon affected people who were mentally ill. For this reason people who were mentally ill were often referred to as lunatics.