From: Joao S. Lopes
Message: 40537
Date: 2005-09-24
Joao S. Lopes wrote:
> Is there any register who prove the existence of such
> couple Jupiter/Diana?
>
> Is the equation Diana=Moon a reflex of archaic Roman
> Mythology or later Greek influence? Or a Greek
> influence through Etruscan?
>
>
> Joao SL
Interesting that Etruscan Uni = Latin Ju:no:, Etruscan Ani = Latin Ja:nus.
If Latin terms were just taken from Etruscan, j- can be a prothetic vowel or
it can reflect a feature of the etruscan pronunciation which is not seen in
spelling. If yes - all the guessings on Ja:nus can lead to nowhere (I am
afraid our knowledge of Etruscan is too little to continue with such
etymologies). The same about Dia:na if we took that Dia:na < Deiva Ja:na
(cf. Etruscan Ana, the female partner of Ani). The claiming that Uni, Ani,
etc. were borrowed by the Etruscans from the Romans seems to be less
probable for many reasons.
Anyway, it seems to me that all those "gate" etymologies of Ja:nus are
false. The word ja:nua "house door, entrance" is a secondary derivative from
Ja:nus, not inversely (but we have Ja:nus, Ja:ni:, so this is an -o- stem).
Ani was Etruscan god of beginning - but the gate is like if the beginning of
the house.
Btw. the Etruscans had another moon personification - Losna / Lusna (= Lat.
Lu:na). Lusna < *Lu:xna is an IE term (cf. lux, Slavic lysU-jI 'bald' <
'sparkling', also 'moon' (even today in Polish dialects) etc.) and it could
have been taken by the Etruscans from Latin. In the same time Latin Dia:na
seems to have been of foreign origin. It makes the Etruscan etymology of
Dia:na/Ja:na and Ja:nus more probable.
Grzegorz J.
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