composer –
I hate to be the one to break this to you, but not all dictionaries are created equal. Or rather, not all etymological linguistic research is created equal. This shows up a lot in dictionaries, but only because people have misread Lewis and Short.
The association of “veneration” with “Venus” is not that of child and mother, but rather of cousins descended from a similar group of words. (Other cousins are Sanskrit “vankh”, pray, and Old English “wunsc”, wish.)
But “venus, venustas” means lovely or charming (the kind of woman you’d wish to meet, maybe, or the sort of beauty that awes you), and “veneror” means to give honor or worship to someone worthy of it, like a wise old Roman man or the gods in general. (A wise old man being supposed to awe you with his experience and insight, for example, not that he awes you into thinking he’s a god.)
The Early Christians used it the same way – honor for humans and worship for God. “Veneranter” (with veneration, reverently) was a favorite adjective for how the Christians adored and worshipped God. (So it doesn’t really behoove a Christian to ride the Venus theory-pony.)
For example, here’s a bit about the Ascension from Sedulius’ “Carmen Paschale” (Easter Song). He’s 5th century.
Illi autem lætis cernentes vultibus, altas
Ire super nubes Dominum, tractusque coruscos
Vestigiis calcare suis, veneranter adorant…"
“But they with rejoicing faces, seeing high
Above the clouds the Lord walk, treading the place
with His footsteps flashing, adore venerantly.”
Over time, technical theological meanings have been adopted for words that were essentially synonyms back in the Roman Empire. So the idea of veneration being a technical term for honors done to good people has become more prominent.
Of course, if you’re determined to misread a word, you’re free to misuse it, too. And you’re free never to do anything on Viernes or Vendredi (dies Veneris, aka Friday, or Frigga’s Day), because it really is named after Venus.
(Though it probably came over from Babylonian, Sumerian, or Indian weekday systems, them being the big astronomy folks. So it’s really another pagan goddess representing similar concepts and planet, but who’s counting?)