Names and Epithets
The etymology of the name Ares is traditionally connected with the Greek word ἀρή (arē), the Ionic form of the Doric ἀρά (ara), "bane, ruin, curse, imprecation". There may also be a connection with the Roman god of war Mars, via hypothetical Proto-Indo-European *M̥rēs; compare Ancient Greek μάρναμαι (marnamai), "to fight, to battle", or Punjabi maarna (to kill, to hit). Walter Burkert notes that "Ares is apparently an ancient abstract noun meaning throng of battle, war." The earliest attested form of the name is the Mycenaean Greek a-re, written in Linear B syllabic script.
The adjectival epithet Areios was frequently appended to the names of other gods when they take on a warrior aspect or become involved in warfare: Zeus Areios, Athena Areia, even Aphrodite Areia. In the Iliad, the word ares is used as a common noun synonymous with "battle."
Inscriptions as early as Mycenaean times, and continuing into the Classical period, attest to Enyalios, another name for the god of war.
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Famous quotes containing the words names and/or epithets:
“The instincts of merry England lingered on here with exceptional vitality, and the symbolic customs which tradition has attached to each season of the year were yet a reality on Egdon. Indeed, the impulses of all such outlandish hamlets are pagan still: in these spots homage to nature, self-adoration, frantic gaieties, fragments of Teutonic rites to divinities whose names are forgotten, seem in some way or other to have survived mediaeval doctrine.”
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“Horribly stuffed with epithets of war.”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)