Iuno

Forms

Iūnō f sg (genitive Iūnōnis); third declension^[1]

Etymology

It is probably from Latin iuvenis (“young”): de Vaan lists the goddess among the derivatives of that word and takes the name as a separate extension of a stem ⟨iūn-⟩ “young”, the stem of iūnior.^[2] The word goes back to Proto-Indo-European *h₂iu-h₁en- (“who possesses vital force, young”).^[2] Georges and Walde also explain her as “the young, blooming one”, and Walde holds that her link with Iuppiter is secondary.^[3][4] Rix takes Etruscan uni for a borrowing of an early Latin form of the name.^[2]

Wiktionary gives a second view, a derivation from Proto-Indo-European *dyew- (“sky, heaven”), like Ancient Greek Διώνη (Diṓnē).^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan records the name from Plautus on,^[2] who has a husband call his wife “my Juno”.^[5] Köbler lists the Carmen Saliare and the Twelve Tables among its first sources.^[6]

Semantic evolution

Juno was the wife and sister of Jupiter, identified with the Greek Hera,^[5] the queen of the gods and the goddess of marriage and of women.^[3][7] She had many cult titles, such as Moneta, Sospita and Regina;^[5][3] as Iuno Lucina she was the goddess of childbirth,^[5] and Iuno inferna was a name for Proserpina.^[5] Each woman had her own Iuno, a guardian spirit like a man's genius, by which women swore.^[5][3] The peacock was Iunonis avis and the planet Venus Iunonis stella.^[5] Varro and Cicero report the philosophers' interpretation of Juno as the air.^[3]

Medieval writers kept this reading and took Juno as the lower air, Jupiter being the upper.^[8] In New Latin the name was given to an asteroid.^[1] Italian Giunone continues the name.^[9]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus jokingly calls a wife “my Juno”.^[5][2]
• 204–169 BC – Ennius calls her Iuno Saturnia.^[5]
• 116–27 BC – Varro discusses Juno Lucina, the goddess of childbirth.^[5]
• 70–19 BC – Virgil calls Proserpina Iuno inferna.^[5]
• 4 BC–65 AD – Seneca writes that the ancestors gave each person a Genius or a Juno.^[5]
• 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder records Iunonis stella as a name of the planet Venus.^[5]

Meanings

Noun

1. (Roman mythology) Juno, the queen of the gods, wife and sister of Iuppiter, identified with Ancient Greek Ἥρα (Hḗra).^[5][7]
2. Iūnō Lūcīna: the goddess of childbirth.^[5][7]
3. Iūnō īnferna: Proserpina, queen of the underworld.^[5][7]
4. The tutelary spirit of a woman, the counterpart of a man's genius.^[5][3]
5. (humorous) A wife; in poetry, the emperor's wife.^[5]
6. Iūnōnis avis: the peacock;^[5][9] Iūnōnis stella: the planet Venus.^[5][9]
7. (Medieval Latin) The lower air.^[8]
8. (New Latin) The asteroid Juno.^[1]

Word family

• Iūnōnius
• Iūnōnālis
• Iūnōnicola
• Iūnōnigena

Related words

• Iūnius²
• iuvenis
• iūnior

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
3. ^ a b c d e f Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
4. ^ Walde, Alois (1906), Lateinisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Heidelberg: Carl Winter
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
7. ^ a b c d Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ a b Latham, R. E., D. R. Howlett, R. K. Ashdowne, et al. (1975–2013), Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources, London: British Academy / Oxford University Press
9. ^ a b c Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier