Carol Mertz, age 12, of Lansing, Mich., for her question:

Why do we call the sun Old Sol?

Sol is the Latin and Spanish word for sun. It crops up again in Solar System and solar time, used as an adjective pertaining to the sun. Something as important as the sun is bound to have a pet name, a rather affectionate everyday name which Is called a colloquial expression. In this everyday, colloquial language, the sun is known as Father Sun, or Old Sol of   which is from his fancy Latin name.

Our language has ancient branches from both Latin and Germanic languages. In many cases we have kept a word from both branches for the same subject. The word law comes from the Germanic, order comes from the Latin. The word love comes from Germanic, cherish comes from the Latin. When we call the sun Old Sol., we are playfully giving him his Latin name.