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ArchivesIOLANTHE and VIOLA
For IOLANTHE this site has:
"Means 'violet flower', derived from Greek ιολη (iole) 'violet' combined with ανθος (anthos) 'flower'."
Now I can't find "iole" for "violet" in my Greek dictionary. All I find is "ion" for the flower. Has anybody got a more detailed dictionary?
Now somewhere else I read that the L in VIOLA is not from the Greek word (ion), but is a Latin demitutive ending. Can anybody confirm this?
By the way, the V of VIOLA was a so called digamma in Greek. This was the F (that looked somewhat like two gammas, I suppose), but at an early stage was not pronounced and later omitted completely. So I assume that the word for "violet" made its way to the Romans fairly soon.
"Means 'violet flower', derived from Greek ιολη (iole) 'violet' combined with ανθος (anthos) 'flower'."
Now I can't find "iole" for "violet" in my Greek dictionary. All I find is "ion" for the flower. Has anybody got a more detailed dictionary?
Now somewhere else I read that the L in VIOLA is not from the Greek word (ion), but is a Latin demitutive ending. Can anybody confirm this?
By the way, the V of VIOLA was a so called digamma in Greek. This was the F (that looked somewhat like two gammas, I suppose), but at an early stage was not pronounced and later omitted completely. So I assume that the word for "violet" made its way to the Romans fairly soon.
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