Ἴων
Ancient Greek
    
    Alternative forms
    
- Ἰᾱ́ϝων (Iā́wōn)
 - Ἰᾱ́ων (Iā́ōn)
 
Etymology
    
From earlier Ἰᾱ́ϝων (Iā́wōn) according to Beekes.
Pokorny has speculated about a connection to a Proto-Indo-European root *wey-, expressing a shout of joy or distress, as in Ancient Greek ἰά (iá, “clamour, shout; sound, roar”). Ἰᾱ́ϝων (Iā́wōn) could mean “devotee of Apollo”, based on the cry ἰή παιών (iḗ paiṓn) uttered in his worship; the god was also called ἰήϊος (iḗïos) himself.[1] Douglas Harper speculates that it may share a Proto-Indo-European origin with Sanskrit योनी (yonī, “womb, vagina”), a supposed reference to goddess-worshipping, although he does not provide a source for this claim.[2]
Compare Mycenaean Greek 𐀂𐀊𐀺𐀚 (i-ja-wo-ne, “Ionians”), Egyptian ywnj-ꜥꜣ (“Great Ionia”), both attested in the first half of 14th century BC.
Pronunciation
    
- (5th BCE Attic) IPA(key): /í.ɔːn/
 - (1st CE Egyptian) IPA(key): /ˈi.on/
 - (4th CE Koine) IPA(key): /ˈi.on/
 - (10th CE Byzantine) IPA(key): /ˈi.on/
 - (15th CE Constantinopolitan) IPA(key): /ˈi.on/
 
Proper noun
    
Ἴων • (Íōn) m (genitive Ἴωνος); third declension
- Ion, the mythological ancestor of the Ionian people
 - an Ancient Greek male name
 
Noun
    
Ἴων • (Íōn) m (genitive Ἴωνος); third declension
Inflection
    
| Case / # | Singular | Dual | Plural | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nominative | ὁ Ἴων ho Íōn  | 
τὼ Ἴωνε tṑ Íōne  | 
οἱ Ἴωνες hoi Íōnes  | ||||||||||
| Genitive | τοῦ Ἴωνος toû Íōnos  | 
τοῖν Ἰώνοιν toîn Iṓnoin  | 
τῶν Ἰώνων tôn Iṓnōn  | ||||||||||
| Dative | τῷ Ἴωνῐ tôi Íōni  | 
τοῖν Ἰώνοιν toîn Iṓnoin  | 
τοῖς Ἴωσῐ / Ἴωσῐν toîs Íōsi(n)  | ||||||||||
| Accusative | τὸν Ἴωνᾰ tòn Íōna  | 
τὼ Ἴωνε tṑ Íōne  | 
τοὺς Ἴωνᾰς toùs Íōnas  | ||||||||||
| Vocative | Ἴων Íōn  | 
Ἴωνε Íōne  | 
Ἴωνες Íōnes  | ||||||||||
| Notes: | 
  | ||||||||||||
Related terms
    
- Ἰᾰ́ς (Iás)
 
Descendants
    
References
    
- “Ἴων”, in Liddell & Scott (1940) A Greek–English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
 - “Ἴων”, in Liddell & Scott (1889) An Intermediate Greek–English Lexicon, New York: Harper & Brothers
 - Ἴων in Trapp, Erich, et al. (1994–2007) Lexikon zur byzantinischen Gräzität besonders des 9.-12. Jahrhunderts [the Lexicon of Byzantine Hellenism, Particularly the 9th–12th Centuries], Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften
 - Woodhouse, S. C. (1910) English–Greek Dictionary: A Vocabulary of the Attic Language, London: Routledge & Kegan Paul Limited, page 1,014
 
- Julius Pokorny, Indogermanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, (1959), p. 1176.
 - Douglas Harper (2001–2024) “Ionian”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.