Dionysus

Forms

Dionȳsus m sg (genitive Dionȳsī); second declension^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Ancient Greek Διόνυσος (Diónūsos), the Greek name of the god.^[1][2][3] The origin of the Greek name is unknown.^[4] Beekes notes that the Greek forms seem to point to an older compound, and reports Kretschmer's view that its first part is the genitive of the name of the Thracian Zeus and its second a Thracian word for “son”.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Plautus has it in the Stichus,^[3][2] as the name of the god of wine.^[6]

Semantic evolution

Latin used it as the Greek name of the god whom the Romans called Bacchus or Liber.^[6][2] L&S notes that the Augustan poets do not use it.^[2] Cicero has it in De natura deorum, where the plural names several gods of that name,^[3] and Ausonius uses it in an epigram.^[3][2] The spellings Dionisus and Dionusus occur in inscriptions, and an accusative Dionyson in Ausonius.^[7]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus names the god in the Stichus.^[3][8]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero discusses several gods called Dionysus in De natura deorum.^[3][8]
• c. 310–394 AD – Ausonius uses it in an epigram.^[3][2][8]

Meanings

Proper noun

1. (Greek mythology) Dionysus, the Greek god of wine, identified with Bacchus.^[6][2]

Related words

• Bacchus
• English Dionysus

Usage notes

Derived from it are the adjective Dionȳsius “of Bacchus” and the neuter plural Dionȳsia, the festival of Bacchus, which Plautus already uses.^[2][3]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g h Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
4. ^ Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ Beekes, Robert S. P. (2010), Etymological Dictionary of Greek, with the assistance of Lucien van Beek, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 10, Leiden; Boston: Brill
6. ^ a b c Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
8. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de