From: dgkilday57
Message: 66499
Date: 2010-08-30
>There is no good reason why the principal god of the Jovian religion should have had a reconstructible consort. It is very difficult to connect <Ju:no:> with <Ju:piter> etymologically and I prefer to connect with <ju:ni:x> 'heifer', <ju:nior> 'younger', <juvencus> 'young bull', <juvenis> 'young man', etc. I do not regard Juno as a goddess of youth as such, but of fecundity, and her epithet <Lu:cina> refers to leading babies, calves, etc. into the light. She appears to have been originally a Q-Italic goddess (not mentioned in the Iguvine Tables, but worshipped at Falerii, Lanuvium, and other "Latin" towns), borrowed by the Etruscans of Veii and Caere as Uni. Her association with Jupiter does not appear explicitly before the lectisternium of 217 BCE, and should be regarded as an artefact of Hellenization, identifying her with Hera, not an ancient feature.
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> With regard to PIE 'dyeus pater' what has happened to 'dyeus mater' please? Juno does not appear to be the 'Earth Mother'. The only gender correct form I have here for a dyeus counterpart is 'Dione' [Juno], I don't know what her reconstructed PIE would be. For that we need the neutral adjective 'bright', I haven't seen that yet.
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> For Dione also read Diana but the moon attribution is fraught (below)
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> Looks to me as if Juno's root is exactly the same as 'dyeus' - her name 'Lucina' makes that abundantly clear I think.