Eoan

See also: eoan

English

WOTD – 16 May 2023

Etymology

From either of the following:

Learned borrowing from Late Latin ēōus (“dawn; rising sun”) + English -an (suffix forming adjectives). Ēōus is derived from Ancient Greek ἠώς (ēṓs, “dawn, daybreak; morning; day; east”),^[1]^[2] ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₂ews- (“dawn; east”).
Eos (“Greek goddess of the dawn”) +‎ -an. Eos is derived from Ancient Greek Ἠώς (Ēṓs, “Greek goddess of the dawn”), from ἠώς (ēṓs, “dawn, daybreak; morning; day; east”): see above.

cognates

Portuguese eoo

Pronunciation

(Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /iːˈəʊən/
Audio (Southern England): (file)
(General American) IPA^(key): /iˈoʊən/
Rhymes: -əʊən
Hyphenation: Eo‧an

Adjective

Eoan (not comparable) (archaic, poetic)

Relating to the dawn.
Synonyms: auroral, aurorean, dilucular

Coordinate terms: vespertinal, vespertine
- 1601 (first performance), Thomas Dekker, Satiro-mastix. Or The Untrussing of the Humorous Poet. , London: [Edward Allde] for Edward White, , published 1602, →OCLC, signatures , verso – C, recto:
  VVhoſe moſt adored name incloſes, / Things abſtruſe, deep and diuine. / VVhoſe yellovv treſſes ſhine, / Bright as Eoan fire. […] Bright as Eoan fire, / O me thy Prieſt inſpire!
- 1619, Michael Drayton, “ To the New Yeere.”, in Cyril Brett, editor, Minor Poems of Michael Drayton, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Clarendon Press, published 1907, →OCLC, page 59, lines 19–21:
  Giue her th' Eoan brightnesse, / Wing'd with that subtill lightnesse, / That doth trans-pierce the Ayre; […]
- 1622 May 24 (licensing date), John Fletcher, Philip Massinger, “The Prophetesse”, in Comedies and Tragedies , London: Humphrey Robinson, , and for Humphrey Moseley , published 1647, →OCLC, Act III, scene iii, page 36, column 1:
  [S]he moves unto me: / how ſvveet, hovv fair, and lovely her aſpects are? / her eyes are like bright Ioan flames ſhot thorovv me.
- 2015, Bill Reed, The Pipwink Papers, Melbourne, Vic.: Reed Independent, →ISBN:
  But we can note how wonderfully Pirip has woven the eoan light to recreate the images of life's grey, last sickly days […]
Relating to the east; eastern.
- 1642, Will Wishartt, “Melpomene”, in Immanuel: Or The Mistery of God, Manifested in the Flesh. , London: R. Hodgkinsonne, for Philip Nevill , →OCLC, canto 6 (The Triumph), page 208:
  And from his Orient or Eoan vvave, / VVhere Neptune doth his ſteps in pearle engrave, / Seeing a clearer Sun i' th' VVeſt ariſe / To all his Naids and his Napæis, cries / […] / Tvvo Suns ariſe at once, and in one day / Tvvo Titans to the vvorld their lights diſplay; […]
- 1720, J Bulkeley, “Book II”, in The Last-Day. A Poem, , London: J. Peele, ; R. King, ; C Rivington, ; and W Chetwood , →OCLC, page 81:
  Ocean vvas troubled, from th' Atlantick Vaſte / To Shores Eöan vvhere Braſilian Hills / Are cloath'd vvith Myrrh, and Trees diſtill vvith Balm.
- 1813, Robert Mayo, “Preliminary. Progress and Extent of Ancient Geography.”, in A View of Ancient Geography, and Ancient History. , Philadelphia, Pa.: John F Watson, ; A. Fagan printer, →OCLC, part I (Natural Geography), page 3:
  [Ancient navigators] carried their commerce to Thynæ, the capital of Sinæ, on the river Senus now Camboja, in the ulterior peninsula of India, where their Eoan Ocean respects the east; circumnavigated Africa; and penetrated to the Thule, now Shetland isles: here they acquired some idea of the Mare Pigrum or Northern Ocean, which they would fain connect with the Eoan or Eastern Ocean by an extension of the Baltic […]
- 1820, Percy Bysshe Shelley, “Ode to Liberty”, in Prometheus Unbound , London: C and J Ollier , →OCLC, stanza XVIII, page 221:
  Come Thou, but lead out of the inmost cave / Of man's deep spirit, as the morning-star / Beckons the Sun from the Eoan wave.
- 1827, [Henry Taylor], Isaac Comnenus. , London: John Murray, , →OCLC, Act III, scene v, page 129:
  Armenian girls / Call him the Mithra of the middle world, / That sheds Eoan radiance on the West.