Διόνυσος

Etymology
Attested in Mycenaean Greek (13th to 12th century ) as. Dialectal variants include, , and others.

Popular etymology often connected it with, the genitive of. The dio- forms are probably built by analogy from an original stem die-. The compound die-nūs-os is analysed as from a verbal stem die- (from ). The nūs- element gave rise to a toponym, a mountain where the god was nursed by nymphs (the Nysiads, Nysa is also the name given to one of these nymphs). According to the testimony of Pherecydes of Syros (6th c. ), nūsa is a word for "tree". Janda (Die Musik nach dem Chaos, 2010) suggests an original meaning of "impeller of the (world-)tree" (the ), connecting the god with archaic cosmology. The close association or indeed identity of Dionysus with a tree (especially the fig tree) is well attested in the classical period.

More at Dionysus.

Proper noun

 * 1)  Dionysus