Neptunus

Forms

Neptūnus m (genitive Neptūnī); second declension^[1]

Etymology

The origin is uncertain.^[2][1] It is perhaps inherited from Proto-Italic *neptūno- (so de Vaan, with a query), built on an abstract noun Proto-Indo-European *nebʰ-tu- (“moisture”).^[2] Rix derived the name from this abstract with a suffix *-h₃n- marking rulers, so that the god was the “lord of moisture”, then of irrigation, of wells and of rivers; de Vaan objects that the existence of this suffix is not established, and suggests instead a derivative *nebʰtuh₁-n- (“who is with moisture”), in the manner of Nussbaum.^[2] Wiktionary also traces it to the root of *nébʰos (“cloud, moisture, mist”), but notes that this is disputed.^[1] The OLD compares a Sanskrit word for a spring and gives the name the ending of fortūna and Portūnus.^[3]

Cognate, according to de Vaan, with Avestan napta- (“moist”).^[2][4] He takes the name of the corresponding Etruscan god to be borrowed from an unattested Umbrian cognate, because it has a dental fricative.^[2]

Varro derived the name from nūptus (“veiling”), since the sea covers the lands as clouds cover the sky.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is found from Naevius on,^[2][6] who calls Neptune the brother of the highest king of the gods and ruler of the seas (summi deum regis fratrem Neptunum, regnatorem marum).^[7] Naevius also uses the name for sea fish, in a line where a cook eats “Neptune”.^[3]

Semantic evolution

Neptune was an Italian god who was later identified in function with the Greek Poseidon (Poseidôn).^[3] Plautus invokes him as ruler of the salt sea, salsipotens.^[3][7] From Cicero and Lucretius on, poets use the name for the sea itself.^[3] The festival of the god was the Neptūnālia, recorded from Varro on.^[2]

In New Latin the name was given to the planet Neptune.^[1][8]

Timeline

• c. 235–200 BC – Naevius names the god and uses the name for sea fish.^[3][7][6]
• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus calls Neptune the brother of Jupiter, ruler of the salt sea.^[3]
• 116–27 BC – Varro records the festival Neptūnālia.^[2][6]
• 96–55 BC – Lucretius uses the name for the sea.^[3][6]
• late 14th century – English borrows the name of the god as Neptune.^[9]

Meanings

Proper noun

1. Neptune, the god of the sea, an Italian god later identified with Poseidon.^[3][7]
2. (poetic) The sea, the deep.^[3]
3. (poetic) Sea fish.^[3]
4. (New Latin, astronomy) The planet Neptune.^[1][8]

Word family

• Neptūnālia

Related words

• nimbus
• English Neptune

Usage notes

Medieval British Latin has a separate word neptunus for a kind of cake, recorded by Gervase of Tilbury (1209–1214); its origin is unclear.^[6]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h 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 g h i j k Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ Pokorny, Julius (1959), Indogermanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Bern; Munich: Francke
5. ^ Marcus Terentius Varro, De lingua Latina (text of The Latin Library; book and paragraph numbers as there).
6. ^ a b c d e 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 Victionarium (Latin Wiktionary), la.wiktionary.org
9. ^ Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com