Iuno
Pronunciation
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
- (Roman mythology) Juno, the queen of the gods, wife and sister of Iuppiter, identified with Ancient Greek Ἥρα (Hḗra).[5][7]
- Iūnō Lūcīna: the goddess of childbirth.[5][7]
- Iūnō īnferna: Proserpina, queen of the underworld.[5][7]
- The tutelary spirit of a woman, the counterpart of a man's genius.[5][3]
- (humorous) A wife; in poetry, the emperor's wife.[5]
- Iūnōnis avis: the peacock;[5][9] Iūnōnis stella: the planet Venus.[5][9]
- (Medieval Latin) The lower air.[8]
- (New Latin) The asteroid Juno.[1]
Word family
- Iūnōnius
- Iūnōnālis
- Iūnōnicola
- Iūnōnigena
Related words
References
- ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
- ^ 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
- ^ a b c d e f Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
- ^ Walde, Alois (1906), Lateinisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Heidelberg: Carl Winter
- ^ 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
- ^ Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
- ^ a b c d Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
- ^ 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
- ^ a b c Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier