Pluto

Forms

Plūtō m sg (genitive Plūtōnis); third declension^[1] The Greek form Plūtōn is also used, with the Greek accusative Plūtōna in Horace.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Ancient Greek Πλούτων (Ploútōn).^[3][1][4] In Greek this is the god of riches, that is, of the stores of grain buried in the earth, a derivative of πλοῦτος (ploûtos, “riches, wealth”),^[5] which Beekes derives from πλέω (pléō) as an old word for “flow, multitude”.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in Ennius, who explains that “Pluto in Latin is Dis pater; others call him Orcus”: the god of the underworld of Greek mythology.^[2]

Semantic evolution

In Latin poetry and prose he is the king of the underworld, husband of Proserpina and brother of Jupiter and Neptune;^[2][3] Virgil, Horace, Seneca and Juvenal name him.^[2][3] The adjective Plūtōnius was made from the name.^[3]

In New Latin the name was given to the dwarf planet Pluto.^[1] English has the god's name from the early 14th century.^[6]

Timeline

• 204–169 BC – Ennius equates Pluto with Dis pater and Orcus.^[2][4]
• 70–19 BC – Virgil names him in the Aeneid.^[2][4]
• early 14th century – English takes the name from Latin.^[6]
• New Latin – It names the dwarf planet.^[1]

Meanings

Proper noun

1. (Greek and Roman mythology) Pluto, god of the underworld.^[2][3]
2. (New Latin, astronomy) Pluto, the dwarf planet.^[1]

Word family

• Plūtōnius

Related words

• Dis
• Orcus
• English Pluto

Usage notes

A different Plūtō (genitive Plūtōnis, feminine) is the mother of Tantalus in Hyginus' Fabulae.^[2]

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 Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
5. ^ a b 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 Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com