Eoan

See also: eoan

English

WOTD – 16 May 2023

Etymology

Two parasailors enjoying the Eoan view (sense 1) at Langkawi off the coast of Kedah, Malaysia.

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”), 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)

2. 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 [B4], 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, “[Odes.] 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 […]

3. Relating to the east; eastern.
   • 1642, Will[iam] 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[ohn] Bulkeley, “Book II”, in The Last-Day. A Poem, […], London: […] J. Peele, […]; R. King, […]; C[harles] Rivington, […]; and W[illiam Rufus] 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[anning] 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[harles] and J[ames] 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.

Alternative forms

• eoan

Related terms

• Eos
• eosin

Translations

relating to the dawn

• Finnish: aamunkoitteen (genitive)
• Macedonian: зо́рен (zóren)
• Welsh: awroraidd

relating to the east — see eastern

See also

• dawnlike
• matinal
• matitudinal
• matutinal
• matutinary (chiefly US, rare)
• matutine

 

Further reading

• dawn on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• “eoan, n.”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.

Anagrams

• aeon, æon