Ionian

[ahy-oh-nee-uhn] Origin

I·o·ni·an

[ahy-oh-nee-uhn]
adjective
1.
of or pertaining to Ionia.
2.
of or pertaining to the branch of the Greek people named from ion, their legendary founder.
noun
3.
a member of one of the four main divisions of the prehistoric Greeks who invaded the Greek mainland and, after the Dorian invasions, emigrated to the Aegean islands and the coast of Asia Minor. Compare Achaean (def. 5), Aeolian (def. 2), Dorian (def. 2).
4.
an Ionian Greek.

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Ionian is always a great word to know.
So is zedonk. Does it mean:
the offspring of a zebra and a donkey.
a screen or mat covered with a dark material for shielding a camera lens from excess light or glare.

Origin:
1555–65; Ioni(a) + -an
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
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Collins
World English Dictionary
Ionian (aɪˈəʊnɪən)
 
n
1.  a member of a Hellenic people who settled in Attica in about 1100 bc and later colonized the islands and E coast of the Aegean Sea
 
adj
2.  of or relating to this people or their dialect of Ancient Greek; Ionic
3.  of or relating to Ionia
4.  music See also Hypo- relating to or denoting an authentic mode represented by the ascending natural diatonic scale from C to C and forming the basis of the modern major key

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
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Etymonline
Word Origin & History

Ionian
"of Ionia," the districts of ancient Greece inhabited by the Ionians (including Attica and the north coast of the Peloponnesus, but especially the coastal strip of Asia Minor, including the islands of Samos and Chios). The name probably is pre-Gk., perhaps related to Skt. yoni "womb, vulva," and a ref.
EXPAND
to goddess-worshipping people. Also used of the sea that lies between Italy and the northern Peloponnesus (1632). The musical Ionian mode (1844) corresponds to our basic major scale but was characterized by the Greeks as soft and effeminate. The Ionic order of Gk. architecture is attested from 1563.
"The Ionians delighted in wanton dances and songs more than the rest of the Greeks ... and wanton gestures were proverbially termed Ionic motions." [Thomas Robinson, "Archæologica Græca," 1807]
COLLAPSE
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
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