[Facts] ION, Athens, and the flower
in reply to a message by Pavlos the Greak Freak
Now my specific question is: Has the name of the legendary founder of Athens, ION, got anything to do with the name of the flower, or is this pure coincidence?
Replies
But they do grow in flower beds!
True enough! But I just found this in my Greek dictionary:
"ionia" (with an omega) for "flower bed of violets". So I don't think the omikron/omega thing is really all that crucial. But haven't been able to find out anything about the origin of the name Ion. I thought maybe your clever books might know …
True enough! But I just found this in my Greek dictionary:
"ionia" (with an omega) for "flower bed of violets". So I don't think the omikron/omega thing is really all that crucial. But haven't been able to find out anything about the origin of the name Ion. I thought maybe your clever books might know …
I am really pretty stumped with the origin of Ion and the Ionians (I dont care too much about those bloody Corinthians and Ionians, being Doric myself). Here is a site which presents quite a few (nonconclusive) theories:
http://www.indo-european.nl/cgi-bin/response.cgi?root=leiden&morpho=0&basename=dataiegreek&first=71
http://www.indo-european.nl/cgi-bin/response.cgi?root=leiden&morpho=0&basename=dataiegreek&first=71