"Circular motion was not innate to heavenly bodies."

Question

What is the meaning of this statement?

"Circular motion was not innate to heavenly bodies."

Answer 1

it means that the heavenly bodies havent always been orbiting in circular motions. there was once a time when they did not.

Answer 2

It depends a bit on the context.  Here's my guess:

At one time, it was felt that celestial bodies, being perfect, must travel in perfect paths.  Since the most perfect path was the circle, they must have circular orbits.

Later, it was found, through careful observation, that neither of these is true: Celestial bodies are not perfect, but are material bodies, no more or less perfect than is the Earth.  And they do not quite travel in circular orbits, but in (roughly) elliptical ones--like stretched out circles.

If that doesn't fit, could you say a little more about where you saw/heard this statement?