. Ūrania is derived from Ancient Greek Οὐρᾰνῐ́ᾱ, from οὐράνιος (from οὐρανός, probably ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₁wers-) + -ιος.
The alternative form Ouranian is derived from Ancient Greek οὐράνιος.
), where the goddessAphrodite, in her heavenly aspect Aphrodite Urania (see adjective sense 3) is described as inspiring a noble form of affection between older and younger men. Compare German Urning, Urnigtum, also referring to Aphrodite Urania, coined by the German writer Karl Heinrich Ulrichs (1825–1895) in 1864. By the 1900s, the use of the word in this sense had largely been supplanted by homosexual men (see further at that entry).