Editing Janus (section)

===Ancient interpretations===
Three etymologies were proposed by ancient erudites, each of them bearing implications about the nature of the god.<ref>G. Capdeville "Les épithètes cultuelles de Janus" in ''MEFRA'' '''85''' 2 1973 p . 399.</ref> The first one is based on the definition of Chaos given by [[Paul the Deacon]]: ''hiantem'', ''hiare'', "be open", from which the word ''Ianus'' would derive by the loss of the initial aspirate. In this etymology, the notion of Chaos would define the primordial nature of the god.<ref>Paulus above : "Chaos appellabat Hesiodus confusam quondam ab initio unitatem, hiantem patentemque in profundum. Ex eo et χάσκειν Graeci, et nos ''hiare'' dicimus. Unde Ianus detracta aspiratione nominatur id, quod fuerit omnium primum; cui primo supplicabant velut parenti, et a quo rerum omnium factum putabant initium". [[Hesiod]] only reads (''[[Theogony|Theogonia]]'' 116): "Ή τοι μεν πρώτιστα Χάος γένετο..."; cfr. also Ovid ''Fasti'' I 103 ff.</ref><ref>An association of the god to the Greek concept of Chaos is considered contrived by G. Capdeville, as the ''initial'' function of Janus would suffice to explain his place at the origin of time. See: G. Capdeville "Les épithètes cultuels de Janus" in ''[[Mélanges de l'École française de Rome]], (Antiquité)''  '''85''' 2 1973 p. 399-400; Capdeville mentions also Varro apud Augustine, ''De Civitate Dei'' VII 8, who uses the word ''hiatus'' to explain the assimilation of Janus to the world : "Duas eum facies ante et retro habere dicunt, quod hiatus noster, cum os aperimus, mundus similis videatur; unde et palatum Graeci ουρανόν appellant, et nonnulli, inquit, poetae Latini caelum vocaverunt ''palatum'', a quo hiatu oris et fores esse aditum ad dentes versus introrsus ad fauces". Ianus would be the gap (hiatus) through which the sky, represented as the dome of the palate, is manifest: the first meaning of ''palatum'' was sky. Capdeville finds a reminiscence of the same etymology also in [[Valerius Messala]] augur's definition, apud Macrobius  ''Saturnalia'' I 9, 14, that sounds as somehow related to Paulus's: "He who makes and rules everything, keeping together with the force of the allcovering heaven the heavy nature of earth and water collapsing into the deep with the light nature of fire and wind escaping into the boundless high."</ref>

Another etymology proposed by [[Nigidius Figulus]] is related by [[Macrobius]]:<ref>Macrobius above I 9,8.</ref> ''Ianus'' would be [[Apollo]] and [[Diana (mythology)|Diana]] ''Iana'', by the addition of a ''D'' for the sake of euphony. This explanation has been accepted by A. B. Cook and J. G. Frazer. It supports all the assimilations of Janus to the bright sky, the sun and the moon. It supposes a former *Dianus, formed on *dia- < *dy-eð<small>2</small> from the [[Indo-European Languages|Indo-European]] root *dey- shine represented in Latin by ''dies'' day, Diovis and Iuppiter.<ref>A. B. Cook ''Zeus. A Study in Ancient Religion'' Cambridge 1925 II p. 338-9 supposes two parallel series *Divianus, *Dianus, Ianus and Diviana (Varro ''Lingua Latina'' V 68), Diana, Iana (Varro ''De Re Rustica'' I 37, 3). This interpretation encounters the difficulty of the long ''i'' in Dīāna. G. Radke ''Die Götter Altitaliens'' Münster 1965 p. 147.</ref> The form Dianus postulated by Nigidius, however, is not attested.

A third etymology indicated by [[Cicero]], [[Ovid]] and [[Macrobius]], which explains the name as Latin, deriving it from the verb ''ire'' ("to go") is based on the interpretation of Janus as the god of beginnings and transitions.<ref>Ovid ''Fasti'' I 126-7; Macrobius, ''[[Saturnalia]]'', I, 9, 11: "Alii mundum, id est caelum, esse voluerunt: Ianumque ab eundo dictum, quod mundum semper eat, dum in orbem volvitur et ex se initium faciens in se refertur: unde et Cornificius Etymorum libro tertio: Cicero, inquit, non-Ianum sed Eanum nominat, ab eundo." It should be observed that Cornificius's quotation from Cicero contains a mistake, as Cicero did not name a ''Eanum''; Cicero ''De Natura Deorum'' II 67: "Cumque in omnibus rebus vim habent maxumam prima et extrema, principem in sacrificando Ianum esse voluerunt, quod ab eundo nomen est ductum, ex quo transitiones perviae iani foresque in liminibus profanarum aedium ianuae nominantur"." "As in everything the first and the last things have the greatest force, they wanted that Janus be the first in sacrificial actions, because his name is derived from going, from which fact previous passages are named ''iani'' and the hollows in the boundary of secular houses ''ianuae''."</ref>