Dictionary

Janus en · PROPN

Pronunciation

• /ˈd͡ʒeɪnəs/ (General-American, Received-Pronunciation)
• ˈjā.nəs (General-American, Received-Pronunciation)
• (Southern-England) audio
• /ˈdʒæɪ̯nəs/ (Australia)

Etymology

From Latin Iānus (“the Roman god Janus”).

Meanings

1. (Roman) The god of doorways, gates and transitions, and of beginnings and endings, having two faces looking in opposite directions.
   • Janus, with his two heads, his mystery, his depiction as both laughing and serious, and the obvious parallel this forms with the masks of attic tragedy and comedy would make him a double of the two-headed man, the conjurer, and an associate of the trickster in folk comedy as well. 2008, John Lowe, “Laughin’ up a World: Their Eyes Were Watching God and the (Wo)Man of Words”, in Harold Bloom, editor, Interpretations: Zora Neale Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God (Bloom’s Modern Critical Interpretations), new edition, New York, N.Y.: Bloom's Literary Criticism, Infobase Publishing, →ISBN, page 75:
   • Good reviews look both backward and forward; an argument could even be made that one must look backward in order to discern the way forward, that backward and forward are two sides of the same research coin. Nowhere is such a Janus-like perspective more apparent than in the current set of reviews. 2011, Robert M. Hodapp, “Preface”, in Robert M. Hodapp, editor, International Review of Research in Developmental Disabilities, volume 41, San Diego, Calif.: Academic Press, →ISBN, →ISSN, page xi:
   • We find ourselves once again sitting in Committee of the Whole House to vote a war subsidy. The present occupants of the Treasury Bench are determined that so long as they retain their places the Temple of Janus shall not be closed. 1879 February 27, A[lexander] M[artin] Sullivan, “On the Zulu War” (speech before the House of Commons of the United Kingdom); quoted in William Jennings Bryan, editor, Irish Orations (The World's Famous Orations), volume VI, New York, N.Y.: Funk & Wagnalls, 1906, OCLC 23127203, and republished on Bartleby.com, 2002, archived from the original on 4 October 2015
   • "I'll tell you what we can do," cried her persevering patroness; "we can go as masks, and Lady Juliana shall know nothing about it. That will save the scandal of an open revolt or a tiresome dispute. Half the company will be masked; so, if you keep your own secret, nobody will find it out. Come, what characters shall we choose?" / "That of Janus, I think, would be the most suitable for me," said Mary. 1810, anonymous [Susan Edmonstone Ferrier], “chapter XVI”, in Marriage, a Novel. In Three Volumes, volume II, Edinburgh: William Blackwood, Prince's-Street: and John Murray, Albemarle-Street, London, published 1818, →OCLC, page 218:
   • In the ages of victory, as often as the senate decreed some distant conquest, the consul denounced hostilities, by unbarring, in solemn pomp, the gates of the temple of Janus. Domestic war now rendered the admonition superfluous, and the ceremony was superseded by the establishment of a new religion. But the brazen temple of Janus was left standing in the forum; of a size sufficient only to contain the statue of the god, five cubits in height, of a human form, but with two faces, directed to the east and west. 1789, Edward Gibbon, chapter XLI, in The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, volume V, London: Printed for A[ndrew] Strahan, and T[homas] Cadell, in the Strand, OCLC 30106274; republished Philadelphia, Pa.: Published by William Y. Birch & Abraham Small, No. 37, South Second Street; printed by Robert Carr, 1805, OCLC 15453273, page 166
   • [K]nowing that the minds of the people, rendered ferocious by a military life, would never accommodate themſelves to the practice of theſe [principles of justice, laws, and morals], during the continuance of war, he [Numa Pompilius] reſolved, by a diſuſe of arms, to mollify the fierceneſs of their temper: with this view, he built a temple to Janus, near the foot of the hill Argiletum, which was to notify a ſtate either of war or of peace: when open, it denoted that the ſtate was engaged in war; when ſhut, that there was peace with all the ſurrounding nations. 1797, Titus Livius [Livy], translated by George Baker, The History of Rome, [...] In Six Volumes, volume I, London: Printed for A[ndrew] Strahan, and T[homas] Cadell Jun. and W. Davies (successor to Mr. Cadell) in the Strand, →OCLC, book I, page 35:
2. (attributive) Used to indicate things with two faces (such as animals with diprosopus) or aspects; or made of two different materials; or having a two-way action.
   • The ability to look at both sides of a coin before giving a verdict can be both a curse and a blessing. […] This "Janus effect" (my term) is a curse when it blocks a time sensitive judgment response, or a decision waiting to be made before long. […] Friendships, sibling harmony, good relationship with associates at work, and especially marriages, could be great and positive recipients of the good that such a Janus effect could bring on. 2012, Ruby L. Agnir, “Janus”, in Upward beyond the Brim: Transcending the Limits: Selected Writings, [Bloomington, Ind.]: Xlibris, →ISBN:
   • Janus cat, Janus particle
   • The novel seems to be rather autobiographical, but in retrospect one can see about three-quarters through the text there is a turn from an autobiographical into a future novel[…]. De chauffeur verveelt zich is a real Janus-novel, looking into two directions. 2004, Ad Zuiderent, “The Historical Pole of the Earth: Time in the Novels of Gerrit Krol”, in Thomas F[rederic] Shannon, Johan P[ieter] Snapper, editors, Janus at the Millennium: Perspectives on Time in the Culture of the Netherlands (Publications of the American Association for Netherlandic Studies; 15), Lanham, Md.: University Press of America, →ISBN, page 93:
   • A Janus fluid is one made of Janus particles immersed in a solvent. A Janus particle like the Roman God Janus, […] is one that has two faces with two different functionalities. 2013, Riccardo Fantoni, “What is a Janus Fluid?”, in The Janus Fluid: A Theoretical Perspective (Springer Briefs in Physics), Cham, Switzerland: Springer, →DOI, →ISBN, →ISSN, page 1:
   • But other categories of word-play have not been researched extensively or systematically. Among the latter is the type of word-play known as polysemous parallelism, or more commonly, Janus parallelism. The latter term was coined by Cyrus Gordon to describe a literary device in which a middle stich of poetry parallels in a polysemous manner both the line that precedes it and the line which follows it. 1996, Scott B. Noegel, “Introduction to Janus Parallelism”, in Janus Parallelism in the Book of Job (Journal for the Study of the Old Testament Supplement Series; 223), Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, →ISBN, page 12:
3. (attributive) Used to indicate things with two faces (such as animals with diprosopus) or aspects; or made of two different materials; or having a two-way action. ▸ Used to indicate an azo dye with a quaternary ammonium group, frequently with the diazo component being safranine.
   • Janus Dyes. Named after the God, Janus with two faces since they often exhibit two colors. 1943, Edmund Vincent Cowdry, Microscopic Technique in Biology and Medicine, Philadelphia, Pa.; Baltimore, Md.: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, →OCLC, page 102, column 1:
   • The significance of the molecular shape of the dyes in induction of the birefringence of polyanions is illustrated with topo-optical reactions of the Janus dyes. Janus red, yellow, green, black, and blue are cationic azo dyes[…]. All of these exhibit a moderate metachromatic effect with sulfated GAGs [glycosaminoglycans]. 1990, László Módis, “Topo-optical Reactions Used in Polarization Microscopic Ultrastructure Research”, in Organization of the Extracellular Matrix: A Polarization Microscopic Approach, Boca Raton, Fla.: CRC Press, →ISBN, page 40:
   • Janus green B is a dye used widely in histology to stain cells for microscopic examination.
   • In order to show that such stains are due to oxycellulose, the fabric should be stripped with titanous chloride solution or sodium hydrosulphite. On redyeing with Janus Blue the oxycellulose patches are more heavily dyed. The writer prefers Janus Blue to the Methylene Blue which is usually recommended. 1921, Textile Colorist, volume 43, New York, N.Y.: Howes Publishing Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 401:
   • In 1900, L[eonor] Michaelis (who later became famous for his studies of enzyme kinetics) found that mitochondria in living cells could be specifically stained by the dye Janus Green B[…]. Because this dye must be oxidized to become colored, Michaelis proposed that mitochondria are cellular oxidizing agents. 1993, David E. Sadava, “Mitochondria”, in Cell Biology: Organelle Structure and Function, Boston, Mass.; London: Jones and Bartlett Publishers, →ISBN, page 93:
4. (figuratively) A two-faced person, a hypocrite.
   • The hypocrite; or, The modern Janus. 1814, Selina Davenport, The Hypocrite; or, The Modern Janus. A Novel. In Five Volumes, volume I, London: Printed at the Minerva-Press, for A. K. Newman and Co. Leadenhall-Street, →OCLC, title page:
5. A moon of Saturn.
   • Heavily cratered and irregularly shaped, Janus orbits Saturn just beyond the F ring and only 50km (30 miles) farther away than its co-orbital moon, Epimetheus. 2012 October, “Saturn”, in Martin Rees, editor, Universe, rev. edition, London: Dorling Kindersley, →ISBN, page 192:
   • Two of Saturn's small moons have the unique distinction of sharing the same orbit. Epimetheus and Janus circle the Lord of the Rings at a distance of just over 151,000 km, about half the distance from Earth to the Moon. Both are irregularly shaped. Janus is 179 km across, while Epimetheus is about 116 km in diameter. 2016, Michael [W.] Carroll, “Ice Dwarfs and Tiny Moons”, in Picture This!: Grasping the Dimensions of Time and Space, Cham, Switzerland: Springer Nature, →DOI, →ISBN, page 56:
6. (rare) A male given name from Latin.

Deriveds

Janus particle · Janus-headed · Janian · Janus-faced · Janusian · Janiform · Janus cat · Janus green B · Januform · Janus word

Relateds

January · Jekyll and Hyde (two-faced person) · janiceps

Translations (77)

eo Jano (moon of Saturn) · hy Յանուս (Roman god of doorways, gates and transitions) · uz Yanus (Roman god of doorways, gates and transitions) · arz يَانُوس (Roman god of doorways, gates and transitions) · sl Janus (moon of Saturn) · lb Janus (moon of Saturn) · la Janus (moon of Saturn) · lt Janas (Roman god of doorways, gates and transitions) · mk Јанус (Roman god of doorways, gates and transitions) · es Jano (Roman god of doorways, gates and transitions) · ckb جانوس (Roman god of doorways, gates and transitions) · ur جینس (Roman god of doorways, gates and transitions) · sl Janus (Roman god of doorways, gates and transitions) · fi Janus (Roman god of doorways, gates and transitions) · be Янус (Roman god of doorways, gates and transitions) · ru Я́нус (moon of Saturn) · id Yanus (Roman god of doorways, gates and transitions) · th เจนัส (Roman god of doorways, gates and transitions) · iu ᔮᓄᔅ (Roman god of doorways, gates and transitions) · pt Jano (moon of Saturn) · et Janus (Roman god of doorways, gates and transitions) · de Janus (Roman god of doorways, gates and transitions) · ca Janus (Roman god of doorways, gates and transitions) · gl Xano (Roman god of doorways, gates and transitions) · ka იანუსი (moon of Saturn) · iu ᔮᓄᔅ (moon of Saturn) · nl Janus (Roman god of doorways, gates and transitions) · am ያኑስ (Roman god of doorways, gates and transitions) · fr Janus (Roman god of doorways, gates and transitions) · de Janus (moon of Saturn) · eu Jano (Roman god of doorways, gates and transitions) · kn ಜೇನಸ್ (Roman god of doorways, gates and transitions) · el Ιανός (moon of Saturn) · ja ヤヌス (moon of Saturn) · ka იანუსი (Roman god of doorways, gates and transitions) · ja ヤヌス (Roman god of doorways, gates and transitions) · hu Ianus (Roman god of doorways, gates and transitions) · ar يَانُوس (Roman god of doorways, gates and transitions) · da Janus (Roman god of doorways, gates and transitions) · cmn 土衛十 /土卫十 (moon of Saturn) · bg Янус (Roman god of doorways, gates and transitions) · pt Jano (Roman god of doorways, gates and transitions) · ca Janus (moon of Saturn) · es Jano (moon of Saturn) · an Chan (Roman god of doorways, gates and transitions) · fi Janus (moon of Saturn) · hi जेनस (Roman god of doorways, gates and transitions) · he יאנוס (Roman god of doorways, gates and transitions) · pl Janus (moon of Saturn) · ru Я́нус (Roman god of doorways, gates and transitions) · no Janus (moon of Saturn) · ro Ianus (Roman god of doorways, gates and transitions) · no Janus (Roman god of doorways, gates and transitions) · fr Janus (moon of Saturn) · hu Janus (moon of Saturn) · fa ژانوس (Roman god of doorways, gates and transitions) · gsw Janus (moon of Saturn) · la Iānus (Roman god of doorways, gates and transitions) · el Ιανός (Roman god of doorways, gates and transitions) · ia Jano (Roman god of doorways, gates and transitions) · ga Ianus (Roman god of doorways, gates and transitions) · nl Janus (moon of Saturn) · ko 야누스 (Roman god of doorways, gates and transitions) · cmn 杰纳斯 (Roman god of doorways, gates and transitions) · la Jānus (Roman god of doorways, gates and transitions) · sv Janus (Roman god of doorways, gates and transitions) · lb Janus (Roman god of doorways, gates and transitions) · bg Янус (moon of Saturn) · tk Usanus (Roman god of doorways, gates and transitions) · pl Janus (Roman god of doorways, gates and transitions) · da Janus (moon of Saturn) · sv Janus (moon of Saturn) · eo Jano (Roman god of doorways, gates and transitions) · az Yanus (Roman god of doorways, gates and transitions) · it Giano (Roman god of doorways, gates and transitions) · gsw Janus (Roman god of doorways, gates and transitions) · uk Я́нус (Roman god of doorways, gates and transitions)

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