mwh wrote:Don't see how it can be related to Ionians, or isn't the Ιων-/Ιον- distinction original? Anyone have a commentary on the PV (840) handy?
If Icarian from Icarus, why not from Io? ("Why do I mention Io?") Forgive the naivety.
Ἴασον Αργος: "lonian (?) Argos", an expression used uniquely here. Ancient commentators affirm that the phrase describes the Peloponnese, so called because of its legendary king lasos. According to the scholia, lasos was the son of Ιο (although Apollodorus 2.1.3 and Pausanias 2.16.1 identify him as her father). Since Ιο was considered the originator of the lonian race, Ἴασος and Ἰόνιος might have come to signify the same thing. Some commentators object that there is no linguistic connection between the two terms, and the use of Ἴασος as an adj. remains odd, but there is good evidence for the presence of lonian communities in Argos or the Peloponnese at an early date and Pausanias (2.37.3) states that the inhabitants of Argos and Athens once spoke the same language (cf. Hdt. 7.94). For the view that a branch of the Mycenaean ruling class living in the Peloponnese would have called themselves lonians' or *Iᾱϝονες, see Chadwick 1964: 117-18 and Janko at Il. 13.685-8.
Paul Derouda wrote:There seems to be some confusion here between Ἰόνιος (the sea) and the Ionians with ω, if you are right in distinguishing between Ionian with ω and ο. I checked Chantraine, for him Ἰόνιος is a problematic word and he doesn't seem to have an explanation, I guess his reasoning is along the same line as yours. Beekes's etymological dictionary on the other hand listed Ἰόνιος as a derivative of/related to Ιωνες, but I couldn't see any explanation.
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