English
Janus
Janus comes from Latin Iānus ‘the Roman god Janus’, and goes back to Proto-Indo-European *yeh₂- ‘to go, go in, travel’.
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*yeh₂-‘to go, go in, travel’reconstructed
- Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*jānosnext step skipped: Latin iānus
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEIānus‘the Roman god Janus’
- Englishearliest quotation 1789Janus
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Lineage
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*yeh₂-‘to go, go in, travel’reconstructed
- Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*jānosnext step skipped: Latin iānus
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEIānus‘the Roman god Janus’
- Englishearliest quotation 1789Janus
Earliest quotation: 1789, Edward Gibbon, London: Printed for A[ndrew] Strahan: “In the ages of victory, as often as the…”
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *yeh₂- ‘to go, go in, travel’
Today it means
name The god of doorways, gates and transitions, and of beginnings and endings, having two faces looking in opposite directions.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *yeh₂- / Janus