io

Forms

iō (interjection)^[1] The final vowel is shortened in Martial, unless the i is consonantal, as perhaps also in Catullus.^[2]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Ancient Greek ἰώ (iṓ), a cry of joy or grief.^[2][3][1] Wiktionary calls it echoic,^[1] and Köbler compares an interjection Proto-Indo-European *i̯ū̆.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Plautus has the wedding cry “io Hymen Hymenaee” in the Casina, and a slave hailing his master with “io, you, you, tyrant” in the Pseudolus.^[3][2]

Semantic evolution

The OLD calls it a more or less ritual cry under strong emotion, calling on a god or divine power, as the soldiers' iō triumphe at a triumph in Tibullus and Horace.^[2][3] The followers of Bacchus use it, as Virgil's “io, mothers of Latium, hear”, and Horace's “io Bacche”.^[2] It is also addressed to people, as in Plautus' Pseudolus, and in Pliny the Younger it is a cry of relief, “io, io, I come to you free”.^[2][3] At the Saturnalia people cried iō Saturnālia, as in Petronius, Martial and on tokens.^[5]

Wiktionary also gives it as a cry of pain and a call for attention.^[1]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus of the wedding cry.^[3][4]
• 70–19 BC – Virgil of the cry of Bacchus' followers.^[2][4]
• c. 55–19/18 BC – Tibullus of soldiers shouting at a triumph.^[3][4]
• before 66 AD – Petronius of the Saturnalia.^[5][4]

Meanings

Interjection

1. A ritual cry of strong feeling, calling on a god: hurrah! ho!^[2][3][1]
2. A cry of the followers of Bacchus.^[2]
3. A cry to get someone's attention: hey!^[2][1]
4. A cry of pain: oh! alas!^[1]

Related words

• euhoe
• triumphus

Usage notes

Īō with a long first vowel is the daughter of Inachus, loved by Jupiter and turned into a cow, from Ancient Greek Ἰώ (Iṓ);^[2][3][1] Lewis and Short add that she was later worshipped in Egypt as Isis.^[3]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
5. ^ a b Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften