Coruscant

It is interesting how one thing leads to another.  Yesterday I was reading the Arts and Entertainment section of an old Sunday newspaper. I read a book review and an adjective was used: "coruscant".  "Coruscant"!  Isn't that a city planet in the Star Wars universe?

I love learning new words, so I had to look this up.  I googled the word and looked in online dictionaries.  Coruscant is an adjective meaning sparkling or gleaming, the verb coruscate means to give off or reflect light in bright beams.  And I looked at related words (I can't help it, I am a geek) and found another new word for me: fulgid.  An ugly word for resplendent or shining brilliantly.

But Coruscant is also part of the Star Wars universe.  It is a planet located in the galactic core completely covered by a planet-wide city.  Hmm... that makes me wonder if the planet or the city is Coruscant?  Time for another google search!

An urban dictionary defined Coruscant as the combination of Star Wars and Tokyo.  Wikipedia states that Coruscant is a planet in the fictional Star Wars universe.  Wookieepedia explains that Coruscant was originally called Notron.  The planet was located at the intersection of major "hyperlanes" (I am guessing an advanced form of trade routes) and given the hyperspace coordinates of 0,0,0.  That made it the center of the galaxy and served as the capital city for various regimes over the centuries.