Dictionary

Iapetus en · PROPN

Pronunciation

• (Southern-England) audio
• /aɪˈæpɪtəs/

Etymology

From Latin Iapetus, from Ancient Greek Ἰαπετός (Iapetós), possibly from Pre-Greek. * (moon): Named after the titan. * (ocean): The Iapetus Ocean was the predecessor to the Atlantic Ocean, so this name was chosen because Iapetus is the father of Atlas (see Atlantic).

Meanings

1. (Greek) A Titan, the son of Uranus and Gaia, and father of Atlas, Prometheus, Epimetheus, and Menoetius.
2. A moon in Saturnian system, Solar System: The third largest moon of Saturn
   • We were unable to see enough on Saturn's moon Iapetus to really understand why that moon has one bright hemisphere and one dark. 1990 August, Bradford A. Smith, “Voyage of the Century”, in National Geographic, volume 178, number 2, page 55:
3. A former ocean between former continent of Laurentia (North America) and former continent of Baltica (Europe): An ancient ocean which existed between 600 and 400 million years ago.
   • So, in the early Ordovician, Iapetus was wide enough to have one side in high latitudes and the other in the tropics: a massive ocean, indeed. 2004, Richard Fortey, The Earth, Folio Society, published 2011, page 184:
4. (alt-of, alternative, obsolete) Alternative form of Japheth.
   alt of Japheth

Forms

Deriveds

Iapetian · Iapetus Ocean · Iapetus Suture · Iapetus Ridge

Relateds

Iapetus Ocean · Japetus · Iapetos · Japetus · Iapetic

Synonyms

Proto-Atlantic · Proto-Atlantic Ocean

Translations (32)

es Jápeto (the Titan) · ja イアペトゥス (the moon of Saturn) · fr Japet (the moon of Saturn) · ca Jàpet (the moon of Saturn) · pt Jápeto (the Titan) · la Japetus (the Titan) · ja イーアペトス (the Titan) · cmn 土衛八 /土卫八 (the moon of Saturn) · de Iapetus (the moon of Saturn) · ko 이아페투스 (the moon of Saturn) · es Jápeto (the moon of Saturn) · pt Jápeto (the moon of Saturn) · iu ᐃᐊᐲᑐᔅ (the Titan) · fr Japet (the Titan) · de Japetus (the moon of Saturn) · el Ιαπετός (the moon of Saturn) · fi Japetus (the moon of Saturn) · pt Iápeto (the Titan) · de Japetos (the Titan) · ru Я́пет (the moon of Saturn) · it Giapeto (the moon of Saturn) · ko 이아페토스 (the Titan) · et Iapetos (the Titan) · grc Ἰαπετός (the Titan) · el Ιαπετός (the Titan) · fi Iapetos (the Titan) · ru Я́пет (the Titan) · da Iapetus (the Titan) · de Iapetos (the Titan) · kl Japetusi (the Titan) · de Japetus (the Titan) · pl Japet (the moon of Saturn)