Linguistic Origins of the Roman Goddess Venus
Document Type
Panel Presentation
Start Date
19-4-2019 2:00 PM
End Date
19-4-2019 3:15 PM
Keywords
magic, poison, goddesses
Biography
I am an undergraduate student double majoring in Latin and Humanities with an emphasis in Classics. I will be graduating Spring 2019 and plan to later purse a PhD so that I may later secure a position at a college or university.
Major
Humanities
Advisor for this project
Christina Franzen
Abstract
Throughout Latin many ven- words appear, which are ultimately related to the word venus, which originally carried a neuter form distinct from its later usage to refer to the goddess Venus. This study is meant to shed light on what the original meaning of neuter venus likely was, and how that conclusion relates to the Oxford Latin Dictionary suggestion of “proprietary magic”. Since this concern is purely one regarding translation, the study is carried out using the currently accepted English translations of approximately fifteen ven- words which are sorted into three distinct categories. Each category is discussed in turn, and all categories are then examined jointly, to discover in what ways these seemingly disparate groups of etymologically related words still share meaning with one another. These similarities form the basis for a definition of neuter venus, which is then compared to the current suggest definition. Neuter venus and the goddess Venus are then examined in an effort to find other relations between earlier and later forms of venus, and why the name of the goddess may have risen from this previously existing word. Tenuous conclusions are reached which seem to agree with currently accepted definitions. However, further examination of this topic would be necessary to form any authoritative understanding.
Linguistic Origins of the Roman Goddess Venus
Throughout Latin many ven- words appear, which are ultimately related to the word venus, which originally carried a neuter form distinct from its later usage to refer to the goddess Venus. This study is meant to shed light on what the original meaning of neuter venus likely was, and how that conclusion relates to the Oxford Latin Dictionary suggestion of “proprietary magic”. Since this concern is purely one regarding translation, the study is carried out using the currently accepted English translations of approximately fifteen ven- words which are sorted into three distinct categories. Each category is discussed in turn, and all categories are then examined jointly, to discover in what ways these seemingly disparate groups of etymologically related words still share meaning with one another. These similarities form the basis for a definition of neuter venus, which is then compared to the current suggest definition. Neuter venus and the goddess Venus are then examined in an effort to find other relations between earlier and later forms of venus, and why the name of the goddess may have risen from this previously existing word. Tenuous conclusions are reached which seem to agree with currently accepted definitions. However, further examination of this topic would be necessary to form any authoritative understanding.
