Vediovis

Vediovis

1. Alternative form of Vejovis

• Vēdiiovis
• Vēiovis, Vējovis
• Vēdius
• Vēive

Old Latin from vē- (“not, anti-”) +‎ Diovis (“Jove”), from Proto-Italic *djous, *djowes (“day, sky; Jove”) from Proto-Indo-European *dyḗws (“sky god”, literally “the bright one”).

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /u̯eːˈdi.o.u̯is/, [u̯eːˈd̪iou̯ɪs̠]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /veˈdi.o.vis/, [veˈd̪iːovis]

Vēdiovis m sg (genitive Vēdiovis); third declension

1. (Old Latin, religion) Vejove or Vejovis, an ancient Roman deity of Etruscan origin considered to be an underworld counterpart of Jupiter; literally “Little Jupiter”, “Anti-Jove”
   • c. 150 CE, Aulus Gellius, Noctes Atticæ, Book V, Chapter XII, lines 1–11:

     In antiquis precationibus nomina hæc deorum inesse animadvertimus: Diovis et Vediovis; est autem etiam ædes Vediovis Romæ inter Arcem et Capitolium. Eorum nominum rationem esse hanc comperi: Iovem Latini veteres a iuvando appellavere, eundemque alio vocabulo iuncto patrem dixerunt. Nam quod est, elisis aut inmutatis quibusdam litteris, Iupiter, id plenum atque integrum est Iovispater. Sic et Neptunuspater coniuncte dictus est et Saturnuspater et Ianuspater et Marspater—hoc enim est Marspiter—itemque Iovis Diespiter appellatus, id est diei et lucis pater. Idcircoque simili nomine Iovis Diovis dictus est et Lucetius, quod nos die et luce quasi vita ipsa afficeret et iuvaret. Lucetium autem Iovem Cn. Nævius in libris Belli Pœnici appellat. Cum Iovem igitur et Diovem a iuvando nominassent, eum contra deum, qui non iuvandi potestatem, sed vim nocendi haberet—nam deos quosdam, ut prodessent, celebrabant, quosdam, ut ne obessent, placabant—Vediovem appellaverunt, dempta atque detracta iuvandi facultate. “Ve” enim particula, quæ in aliis atque aliis vocabulis varia, tum per has duas litteras, tum “a” littera media inmissa dicitur, duplicem significatum eundemque inter sese diversum capit. Nam et augendæ rei et minuendæ valet, sicuti aliæ particulæ plurimæ; propter quod accidit ut quædam vocabula quibus particula ista præponitur ambigua sint et utroqueversum dicantur, veluti vescum, vemens et vegrande, de quibus alio in loco, uberiore tractatu facto, admonuimus; vesani autem et vecordes ex una tantum parte dicti, quæ privativa est, quam Græci κατὰ στέρησιν dicunt. Simulacrum igitur dei Vediovis, quod est in æde de qua supra dixi, sagittas tenet, quæ sunt videlicet partæ ad nocendum.

     In ancient prayers we have observed the names of these gods: Diovis and Vediovis; furthermore, there is a temple of Vediovis at Rome, between the Citadel and Capitolium. The explanation of these names I have ascertained: the ancient Latins called Iovis from iuvare, and called the same god “father,” thus adding another word. For Iovispater is the full complete form, which becomes Iupiter by syncope or change of some letters. So also Neptunuspater is used as a compound, and Saturnuspater and Ianuspater and Marspater—for this is Marspiter—and Jove also was called Diespiter, that is, the father of day and of light. And thus by a name of similar origin Jove is called Diovis and also Lucetius, because he blesses and helps us by means of the day and the light, equal to life itself. And Lucetius is applied to Jove by Gn. Nævius in his poem on the Punic War. Thus when they had named Iovis and Diovis from iuvare, they applied a contrary meaning to that god who had, not the power to help, but the force to harm—for some gods they worshiped to gain benefit, others they placated lest they cause harm; they called him Vediovis, thus removing and denying his power to help. For the particle “ve” which appears in different forms in different words, now spelled with these two letters, then with “a” inserted between the two, takes on dual meanings which differ from each other. For, like many other particles, it has the effect either of weakening or of strengthening the force of a word; it therefore happens that some words to which that particle is prefixed are ambiguous and may be turned to either force, such as vescus (very thin), vemens (very eager), and vegrandis (very small), which I have discussed elsewhere in greater detail. But vesanus and vecordes are used with only one of the meanings, namely, the privative or negative force, which the Greeks call κατὰ στέρησιν. Thus why the statue of the god Vediovis, which is in the aforementioned temple, holds arrows, which obviously are devised to inflict harm.

Third-declension noun (i-stem), singular only.

• Diovis, Iovis (“Jove”)

• “Vediovis”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• Vediovis in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.