ALDEBERAN. Aldaberan is the alpha or brightest star in the constellation Taurus. The name was originally given to the five stars of Taurus, and the brightest star was called in Arabic Na'ir-al-Daberan, "the bright one of the follower," because it follows the Pleiades. The first edition of the Alfonsine Tables (1252), a set of astronomical tables that were made for Alfonso the Wise of Castile and Leon, applied the name only to the alpha star.

Aldeberan is called the star of the south because it lies south of the ecliptic, or the path of the sun, but since it is north of the equator, it rises in the northeast, Astr I.21.13-17. [Taur]

Aldeberan means "the follower."