Editing Zeus (section)

== Name ==
The god's name in the nominative is {{lang|grc|Ζεύς}} (''Zeús''). It is inflected as follows: [[vocative]]: {{lang|grc|Ζεῦ}} (''{{Lang|grc-Latn|Zeû}}''); [[accusative]]: {{lang|grc|Δία}} ({{Lang|grc-Latn|Día}}); [[genitive]]: {{lang|grc|Διός}} ({{Lang|grc-Latn|Diós}}); [[dative]]: {{lang|grc|Διί}} ({{Lang|grc-Latn|Dií}}). [[Diogenes Laërtius]] quotes [[Pherecydes of Syros]] as spelling the name {{lang|grc|Ζάς}}.<ref name="DioL1.11">{{cite book |title=Lives of Eminent Philosophers |first=Diogenes |last=Laërtius |chapter-url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0258%3Abook%3D1%3Achapter%3D11 |chapter=1.11 |editor1-first=R.D. |editor1-last=Hicks |date=1972 |orig-date=1925}} {{cite book |chapter-url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0257%3Abook%3D1%3Achapter%3D11 |title=Diogenes Laertius, Lives of Eminent Philosophers |chapter=1.11 |language=el}}</ref> The earliest attested forms of the name are the [[Mycenaean Greek]] {{lang|gmy|{{script|Linb|𐀇𐀸}}}}, ''di-we'' (dative) and {{lang|gmy|{{script|Linb|𐀇𐀺}}}}, ''di-wo'' (genitive), written in the [[Linear B]] syllabic script.<ref>{{cite web |title=The Linear B word di-we |url=http://www.palaeolexicon.com/ShowWord.aspx?Id=16703}} {{cite web |title=The Linear B word di-wo |url=http://www.palaeolexicon.com/ShowWord.aspx?Id=16635 |website=Palaeolexicon: Word study tool of Ancient languages}}</ref>

''Zeus'' is the Greek continuation of ''[[*Dyēus]]'' the name of the [[Proto-Indo-European religion|Proto-Indo-European]] god of the daytime sky, also called *''{{PIE|Dyeus ph<sub>2</sub>tēr}}'' ("Sky Father").<ref name="Zeus">{{cite book |chapter-url=http://ahdictionary.com/word/search.html?q=Zeus |title=American Heritage Dictionary |chapter=Zeus |access-date=3 July 2006}}</ref><ref>[[Robert S. P. Beekes]], ''Etymological Dictionary of Greek'', [[Brill Publishers]], 2009, p. 499.</ref> The god is known under this name in the [[Rigvedic deities|Rigveda]] ([[Vedic Sanskrit]] ''[[Dyaus Pita|Dyaus/Dyaus Pita]]''), [[Latin]] (compare ''[[Jupiter (god)|Jupiter]]'', from ''Iuppiter'', deriving from the [[Proto-Indo-European]] vocative *''{{PIE|dyeu-ph<sub>2</sub>tēr}}''),<ref>{{OEtymD|Jupiter}}</ref> deriving from the [[PIE root|root]] *''dyeu''- ("to shine", and in its many derivatives, "sky, heaven, god").<ref name="Zeus"/> [[Albanian language|Albanian]] {{lang|sq|[[Zojz (deity)|Zoj-z]]}} and [[Messapic language|Messapic]] {{lang|cms|[[Zis (deity)|Zis]]}} are clear equivalents and cognates of ''Zeus''. In the Greek, Albanian, and Messapic forms the original cluster ''*di̯'' underwent affrication to ''*dz''.<ref name="Hyllested&Joseph">{{cite book |last1=Hyllested |first1=Adam |last2=Joseph |first2=Brian D. |editor1-last=Olander |editor1-first=Thomas |title=The Indo-European Language Family: A Phylogenetic Perspective |date=2022 |doi=10.1017/9781108758666 |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |isbn=9781108758666 |chapter=Albanian |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xzKAEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA223 |page=232 |s2cid=161016819}}</ref><ref>{{cite thesis |last=Søborg |first=Tobias Mosbæk |title=Sigmatic Verbal Formations in Anatolian and Indo-European: A Cladistic Study |publisher=[[University of Copenhagen]], Department of Nordic Studies and Linguistics |date=2020 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EzBdzgEACAAJ |page=74}}.</ref> Zeus is the only deity in the Olympic [[pantheon (gods)|pantheon]] whose name has such a transparent Indo-European etymology.<ref>{{cite book |last=Burkert |title=Greek Religion |date=1985 |page=[https://archive.org/details/greekreligion0000burk/page/321 321] |publisher=[[Harvard University Press]] |isbn=0-674-36280-2 |url=https://archive.org/details/greekreligion0000burk/page/321}}</ref>

[[Plato]], in his [[Cratylus (dialogue)|''Cratylus'']], gives a folk etymology of Zeus meaning "cause of life always to all things", because of puns between alternate titles of Zeus (''Zen'' and ''Dia'') with the Greek words for life and "because of".<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=ceOQKf0ZvFMC "Plato's ''Cratylus''{{-"}}] by Plato, ed. by David Sedley, Cambridge University Press, 6 November 2003, [https://books.google.com/books?id=ceOQKf0ZvFMC&dq=Plato's%20Cratylus&pg=PA91 p. 91]</ref> This etymology, along with Plato's entire method of deriving etymologies, is not supported by modern scholarship.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/makersofhellascr00geej/mode/2up|pages=[https://archive.org/details/makersofhellascr00geej/mode/2up/page/n303/mode/2up?view=theater 554–555]|title=The Makers of Hellas|publisher=C. Griffin, Limited |last1=Jevons |first1=Frank Byron|year=1903}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=o1xn5Bb-CacC|title=Limiting the Arbitrary|isbn=1556197497|last1=Joseph|first1=John Earl|year=2000|publisher=John Benjamins }}</ref>

[[Diodorus Siculus]] wrote that Zeus was also called Zen, because the humans believed that he was the cause of life (zen).<ref name="auto3">{{Cite web|url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0060.tlg001.perseus-grc1:5.72|title=Diodorus Siculus, Bibliotheca Historica, Books I-V, book 5, chapter 72|website=www.perseus.tufts.edu}}</ref> While [[Lactantius]] wrote that he was called Zeus and Zen, not because he is the giver of life, but because he was the first who lived of the children of [[Cronus]].<ref>[[Lactantius]], ''Divine Institutes'' [https://topostext.org/work/543#1.11.1 1.11.1].</ref>

Zeus was called by numerous alternative names or surnames, known as [[epithet]]s. Some epithets are the surviving names of local gods who were consolidated into the myth of Zeus.<ref name=Hewitt1908 />