Diana

Forms

Dī̆āna f (genitive Dī̆ānae); first declension^[1] Inscriptions also have Deana, and Varro gives the forms Deuiana and Diuiana.^[2][3] In the older poets, from Ennius on, the first syllable is long.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is probably from Latin dīus (“godly, divine”).^[3] Solmsen explained it from Proto-Italic *diwjā-na, “the one belonging to the moon goddess *Divia (the Shiner)”, and Leumann from the phrase sub dīū (“in the open air”).^[3] Wiktionary traces it through dīvus (“divine”) with the suffix -ānus.^[1]

Ancient grammarians had their own explanations: Varro explained it as Diviana, as if from a word for “divine”, and also, as the TLL reports, with dēvius (“off the road”) (as Deviana), because hunters following the goddess sought out lonely, trackless woods.^[2][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan's first author is Naevius,^[3] and Ennius already scans the first syllable long.^[2][5] It is the name of a Roman goddess, early identified with the Greek Artemis.^[2]

Semantic evolution

The goddess was the daughter of Jupiter and Latona and the sister of Apollo, a goddess of the moon and of hunting and a protector of women.^[6][7] By the time of Varro the name was also used for the moon itself,^[2] and Martial uses it by metonymy for hunting.^[6]

In medieval Latin, written with a small letter, diana meant the moon, a sorceress, witch or demon, and a concubine or prostitute.^[8] English took over the name about 1200.^[9]

Timeline

• c. 235–200 BC – Naevius is the first author de Vaan records with the name.^[3][5]
• 204–169 BC – Ennius scans the first syllable long.^[2][5]
• 116–27 BC – Varro reports that some call the moon Diana.^[2][5]
• 43 BC–18 AD – Ovid speaks of “the shape of the nocturnal Diana”, the moon.^[2][5]
• 982–983 – Walther of Speyer uses diana for the moon.^[8][5]
• c. 1200 – The name is taken into English.^[9]

Meanings

Proper noun

1. Diana, a Roman goddess of hunting and the moon, identified with Artemis.^[2][6]
2. (poetic) The moon.^[2][6]
3. (by metonymy) Hunting.^[6]
4. (Medieval Latin) A sorceress, witch or demon.^[8]
5. (Medieval Latin) A concubine or prostitute.^[8]

Related words

• deus
• diēs
• diū

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
4. ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
5. ^ a b c d e f Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ a b c d e Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
7. ^ Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
8. ^ a b c d Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch bis zum ausgehenden 13. Jahrhundert (1967–), Munich: C. H. Beck; Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
9. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com