Latin experts: IOVIO vs IOVI ?

[Heliodromus]

Could anyone please enlighten me as to the difference in meaning between IOVIO and IOVI ?

I know of the following four coins that use IOVIO - maybe not exact same meaning in all four cases ?

1) Diocletian and Maximianus referred to as IOVIO and HERCVLIO

2) Similar, but now obverse IOVIO DIOCLETIANO AVG, rev HERCVLIO MAXIMIANO AVG

3) Licinius using a reverse legend of IOVIO CONSERVATORI CAESS for the new caesars, when IOVI would be more expected in this context.

4) The only one of these which is mine, Maximinus II as caesar in his self-promotion phase before elevation to augustus, using a reverse legend of IOVIO PROPAGAT ORBIS TERRARVM. IOVIO is presumably referring to Maximinus, as depicted on the reverse, rather than Jupiter as on the aureus above.

Any and all explanations, comments or insights are very welcome !

 

Edited October 20, 2023 by Heliodromus

[Ancient Coin Hunter]

My feeling is that this is a version of the dative case, meaning something like "to Jove" however looking up the cases I don't see Jovio as being either singular or plural. So I am stumped.

[Claudius_Gothicus]

"Iovio" is the dative form of the adjective "Iovius", just like how "Hercvlio" is the dative form of the adjective "Hercvlivs"; these mean, respectively, "Of Jupiter" and "Of Hercules". "Iovi", on the other hand, is the dative form of the word "Ivppiter", the Latin name for the god Jupiter itself. On the first, second and fourth coins the use of the adjectives is thus appropriate, since they are paired with images of the emperors who had them as their patron deities. The third coin is a different matter, though, since using the adjective doesn't make much sense there; maybe the engraver simply added an extra letter?

[Heliodromus]

That's great - thanks very much!

 

[Roman Collector]

4 hours ago, Claudius_Gothicus said:

"Iovio" is the dative form of the adjective "Iovius", just like how "Hercvlio" is the dative form of the adjective "Hercvlivs"; these mean, respectively, "Of Jupiter" and "Of Hercules". "Iovi", on the other hand, is the dative form of the word "Ivppiter", the Latin name for the god Jupiter itself. On the first, second and fourth coins the use of the adjectives is thus appropriate, since they are paired with images of the emperors who had them as their patron deities. The third coin is a different matter, though, since using the adjective doesn't make much sense there; maybe the engraver simply added an extra letter?

I came here to say just this very thing! A reasonable translation of the adjectival form would be "Jovian." The dative would be "to/for Jovian (noun being described)," something like "to/for Jovian Diocletian."

[Heliodromus]

31 minutes ago, Roman Collector said:

I came here to say just this very thing! A reasonable translation of the adjectival form would be "Jovian." The dative would be "to/for Jovian (noun being described)," something like "to/for Jovian Diocletian."

Thanks!

So what about the last one "IOVIO PROPAGAT ORBIS TERRARVM". The noun itself is missing, so how should the dative form be understood here? Is the "Orbis Terrarum" being expanded BY the Jovian one, or FOR him ?

 

 

[Claudius_Gothicus]

46 minutes ago, Roman Collector said:

I came here to say just this very thing! A reasonable translation of the adjectival form would be "Jovian." The dative would be "to/for Jovian (noun being described)," something like "to/for Jovian Diocletian."

Thanks for translating it more clearly, my explanation was probably a bit clunky.

3 minutes ago, Heliodromus said:

Thanks!

So what about the last one "IOVIO PROPAGAT ORBIS TERRARVM". The noun itself is missing, so how should the dative form be understood here? Is the "Orbis Terrarum" being expanded BY the Jovian one, or FOR him ?

 

 

"ORBIS TERRARVM" is in the genitive case, while the rest of the legend is in the dative one; fully expanded, it would be something like "IOVIO [MAXIMINO] PROPAGAT[ORI] ORBIS TERRARVM", or "To the Jovian Maximinus, the expander of the borders of the world", more or less.

[Heliodromus]

22 minutes ago, Claudius_Gothicus said:

"ORBIS TERRARVM" is in the genitive case, while the rest of the legend is in the dative one; fully expanded, it would be something like "IOVIO [MAXIMINO] PROPAGAT[ORI] ORBIS TERRARVM", or "To the Jovian Maximinus, the expander of the borders of the world", more or less.

OK - thanks for that expanded version - that makes sense, but I'm still not clear on the exact meaning of this (any) dative form. What's the best modern way to think of it - how should "to" be understood here ? Is it essentially [this coin] "dedicated to" or "in honor of", or is this some type of pro-forma honorific address without any more literal meaning ?

Can anyone think of other coin types using dative forms like this ?

 

[Claudius_Gothicus]

43 minutes ago, Heliodromus said:

OK - thanks for that expanded version - that makes sense, but I'm still not clear on the exact meaning of this (any) dative form. What's the best modern way to think of it - how should "to" be understood here ? Is it essentially [this coin] "dedicated to" or "in honor of", or is this some type of pro-forma honorific address without any more literal meaning ?

Can anyone think of other coin types using dative forms like this ?

 

Your first guess is the correct one - the dative case is used in sentences to refer to the recipient of something, and in the case of coin legends it means exactly "dedicated to" or "in honour of".

If you're talking about dative forms in general, then there's plenty of them on coins: for example, DIVO [Emperor's name] on consecration coins is a dative legend that directly addresses the deified emperor. As for reverses, it's often used to directly invoke a deity or a character: there's AETERNITATI AVG (To the immortality of the Augustus), ROMAE AETERNAE (To Eternal Rome), MARTI PROPVGNATORI (To Mars the fighter), PRINCIPI IVVENTVTIS (To the Prince of Youth)... There's too many to list them all.

[Heliodromus]

15 minutes ago, Claudius_Gothicus said:

There's too many to list them all.

Thanks! Sad to say that while familiar with all those legends, I hadn't realized they were all dative!

[Hrefn]

The emperor’s name in the dative case occurs at least until the time of Anastasius,

not my coin, sadly