Etymologically
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Iuppiter

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Pronunciation

  • IPA (Classical): [ˈjʊp.pɪ.tɛr][1]
  • IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈjup.pi.ter][1]

Forms

Iuppiter m (genitive Iovis); third declension[1] The spelling Iūpiter also occurs, and Ennius has a nominative Iovis.[2][3]

Etymology

The nominative comes from a vocative phrase meaning “father Jove”, Proto-Italic *djous patēr, from Proto-Indo-European *dyḗws (“sky, the bright one”) and Proto-Indo-European *ph₂tḗr (“father”).[1][2][4] The double ⟨pp⟩ of Iuppiter beside ⟨Iūpiter⟩ shifts the length from the vowel to the consonant.[1][3] The oblique cases in ⟨Iov-⟩ continue the inflection of *dyḗws, and diēs “day” and deus “god” are related.[1][2] Cognate with Umbrian iupater, Sanskrit द्यौष्पितृ (dyáuṣ-pitṛ́) and Ancient Greek Ζεῦ πάτερ (Zeû páter, “O father Zeus”).[1][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

The OLD's first citation is Naevius.[2] Köbler's first source is Ennius, who also has an old nominative Iovis.[5][3] Köbler dates Naevius c. 235–200 BC.[5]

Semantic evolution

It was the name of Jupiter, the Italian sky god identified with Zeus, worshipped under many cult titles, also identified with foreign gods, as in Caesar, and used by philosophers of the supreme being.[2][6] Per Iovem lapidem iūrāre was a solemn form of oath.[2] Since the god was the weather, poets used it of the sky or air, as Ennius and Horace's sub Iove “under the open sky”.[2][6] It was the planet Jupiter, Iovis āles was the eagle, and it was an exclamation, as in Plautus.[2] Iuppiter Stygius was Pluto, and flatterers used Iuppiter noster of the emperor, as in Martial.[2]

It may survive in Italian Giove.[1] English Jupiter was borrowed about 1200, and English Jove from the stem Iovis in the late 14th century.[4] English jovial came in the 1580s through French and Italian from Late Latin Ioviālis “of Jupiter”, first meaning “under the influence of the planet Jupiter”.[4]

Timeline

  • c. 235–200 BC – Naevius uses it of the god.[2][5]
  • 204–169 BC – Ennius uses it of the sky.[2][5]
  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it as an exclamation.[2][5]
  • c. 1200 – English Jupiter is recorded.[4]

Meanings

Proper noun

  1. Jupiter, the Italian sky god, identified with Zeus.[2]
  2. (poetic) The sky, the air, the weather.[2][6]
  3. The planet Jupiter.[2]
  4. (exclamation) By Jupiter![2]
  5. Iuppiter Stygius, Pluto.[2]

Word family

  • ioviālis

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  4. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  5. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  6. ^ a b c Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.