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Zonus. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word
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Zonus in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word
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Latin
Etymology
Since Pliny is quoting Eratosthenes, presumably borrowed from Ancient Greek. W. W. Tarn understands the term as a separate, native name of the Oxus, rather than a corruption of Ὦξος (Ôxos) itself, in which case it would ultimately be from a Central Asian language.
Pronunciation
Proper noun
Zonus m sg (genitive Zonī); second declension
- (hapax) A river flowing into the Caspian Sea, mentioned by Pliny; perhaps an alternative name for the Oxus (modern Amu Darya)
c. 77 CE – 79 CE,
Pliny the Elder,
Naturalis Historia 6.15.36:
- inde per Anariacos, Amardos, Hyrcanos ad ostium Zoni fluminis IIII DCCC,
- thence, through the territories of the Anariaci, the Amardi, and the Hyrcani, to the mouth of the river Zonus he makes four thousand eight hundred stadia,
Declension
Second-declension noun, singular only.
References
- Zonus in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
- Tarn, W. W. (1948) Alexander the Great, volumes 2, Sources and Studies, Cambridge University Press, page 13, note 1