 A theory that is gaining wide acceptance is that of Paul Kunitzsch, Professor of Arabic Studies at the University of Munich, who has proposed that the full name of the "ruddy star" Betelgeuse is a corruption of the Arabic (يد الجوزاء "yad al-jauzā"' ) meaning "the hand of the al-jauzā", where al-jauzā is "the Central One", or Orion.Since, prior to the scientific revolution, the study of astronomy was intimately connected with mythology and astrology, the ruddy star—like the red planet Mars—was for millennia closely associated with the archetypes of iron and war, and by extension the motifs of death and rebirth.In South African mythology, Betelgeuse was a deadly lion stalking three zebras represented by the stars in Orion's belt in the age-old drama of predation and nourishment.