An Etymologist's look at Roman Mythology.

Continuing on after my recent course on ancient languages, I thought it would be interesting to examine a selection of Roman mythological figures and examine the etymologies for their names.

Aurora comes from the Proto-Italic ausos and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European h eusos 'the dawn'.

Ceres is the goddess of agriculture, which is seen in the name for Proto-Italic keres 'grain' and Proto-Indo-European kerh-os meaning 'to feed' support this.

Cupid comes from Latin cupio 'desire', itself from Proto-Italic kupi 'to desire', and ultimately Proto-Indo-European kupei 'to tremble, desire'.

Diana is probably from the Latin dius 'godly', from Proto-Italic divios 'divine, heavenly', and ultimately Proto-Indo-European diwyos also meaning 'divine, heavenly'.

Flora is from the Proto-Italic flosa 'goddess of flowers', derived from the Proto-Indo-European behos 'blossoming'.

Janus is Latin ianus 'arched passage, doorway'; from Proto-Italic ianu 'door'; and Proto-Indo-European iehnu 'passage'.

Juno was once thought to be connected to Iove or Jove, but for the last century it has been accepted this comes from Iuvenis 'young'. This Latin origin can be followed through Greek aion to Proto-Indo-European where the meaning is seen as 'vital energy' and particularly 'fertile time'. This would be appropriate for the goddess of marriage and childbirth.

Jupiter is from Proto-Italic djous pater 'father of the day/sky'.

Mars, the Roman god gave his name to the planet, is from Old Latin and appears as Mavors in earliest records. This is thought to be a transferred name (Romans famously absorbed any gods they encountered on their travels and conquests - well you can never have too many gods, or so they thought) and from the Etruscan child-god Maris. While the etymology would seem to fit this explanation, detractors suggest there is little to connect the two figures, unlike that of the Proto-European god Perkwunos who was known for his thunder.

Mercury is another who gave his name to a planet, his name is thought to be related to the Latin merx 'merchandise', thus from the Proto-Indo-European root merg or 'boundary' and is thus the keeper of boundaries.

Neptune also gave his name to a planet (I'd settle for a street!), a name from Proto-Indo-European nebh 'cloud' (compare nebula).

Pluto took its name from the Greek Plouton who was the god of wealth. The Roman Pluto is identified with the Greek Hades, both gods of the underworld, but the link is through the 'underground', for all the wealth was seen to come from the earth in the form of minerals and gems.

Saturn, the god giving his name to the planet, may have come from satus 'sowing', appropriate as Saturn is the god of agriculture. There are other thoughts however, suggesting the origin is stercus meaning 'dung, manure', or even satis 'time' and a reference to the seasons. With these suggestions, perhaps the Saturnians (if there are any) might prefer a less shit name and a different etymology.

Terra is a god, not just the name for that planet otherwise known as Earth, and is derived from the phrase tersa tellus 'dry land'.

Venus, which is Latin for 'love, charm', comes from Proto-Italic wenos 'desire', and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European wenh-os desire'.

An Etymologist's look at Greek Mythology.

After recently completing a course on ancient languages, I thought it would be interesting to examine a selection of Greek mythological figures and examine the etymologies for their names.

Ares does not come across as Mr Nice Guy in the Wonder Woman story, and neither does he get a good review from the etymologist for this name comes from the Greek are, the Ionic form of the Doric ara meaning 'bare, ruin, curse'.

Hades, while the origin is not completely certain, it is generally though this comes from the Proto-Greek awides and thus 'the unseen one'.

Hera has several explanations, with 'mistress', 'air', 'beloved', and even 'cow-eyed' being offered. Perhaps 'uncertain' would be the best offering.

Hermes is thought to come from the Greek herma and thus means 'stone heap'.

Zeus is seen in the Proto-Indo-European culture as Djeus 'the sky father'.

Hyperion quite simply means 'he who walks on high', although often given as simply 'the god above'.

Helios is from the word for 'the sun' in Proto-Indo-European seh u-el.

Perses isfrom the Ancient Greek pertho meaning 'to sack, to ravage, to destroy'.

Uranus, and I have saved the best until last, for this rather unpleasant fellow, correctly known as Ouranos, who ended up being seen as so awful he gave his name to the metal uranium which, as we all know, is a source of radiation, is linked with words such as Sanskrit varsa 'rain'; Hittite yarsa 'fog, mist' and Greek oureo 'to urinate'.

Homonyms, Etymologically Speaking: Z

Many words have two meanings, sometimes more, which are often very different. Such words have identical spelling and pronunciation, they are known as homonyms. Here I continue an A to Z list of such words and look at how that word came to have two different meanings.

Z is for ..... well it isn't for anything as there isn't a single homonym beginning with that letter. So let's have some fun with etymologies of words beginning with Z and we will begin with....

Zero came into use from Arabic notation, for the earlier Roman numerals had no symbol representing zero. It comes from the Arabic sifr 'cipher' and is related to Sanskrit sunya-m 'empty place, desert, naught'.

Zeal is from the Latin zelus 'emulation'. They got it from the Greek zelos, a word used mainly in church to mean 'ardour, rivalry'; and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European ya 'seek, request, desire'.

Zigzag is a fairly recent addition to all languages, coming to English from the French around 1670, and thought to have originated in Germany as ZickZack, used there to refer to German military siege approaches. When it first came to England it was applied solely to types of garden path. Incidentally there is a ZigZag Road in Tadworth, Surrey which is almost perfectly straight.