Etymology
The etymologies proposed by the Ancient fall into three categories: each bears implications about the nature of the god.
The first one is based on a detail of the definition of Chaos given by Paul the Deacon: hiantem, hiare, be open, from which word Ianus would derive for the subtraction of the aspiration. This etymology is related to the notion of Chaos which would define the primordial nature of the god. The idea of an association of the god to the Greek concept of Chaos though looks contrived, as the initial function of Janus suffices to explain his place at the origin of time.
Another etymology proposed by Nigidius Figulus is related by Macrobius: Ianus would be both Apollo and Diana Iana, by the addition of a D for the sake of euphony. This explanation has been accepted by A. B. Cook and J. G. Frazer. It supports all the assimilation of Janus to the bright sky, the sun and the moon. It supposes a former *Dianus, formed on *dia- < *dy-eð(2) from Indo-European root *dey- shine represented in Latin by dies day, Diovis and Iuppiter. However the form Dianus postulated by Nigidius is not attested.
The interpretation of Janus as the god of beginnings and transitions is based on a third etymology indicated by Cicero, Ovid and Macrobius, which explains the name as Latin deriving it from the verb ire ("to go").
It has been conjectured that it derives from the Indo-European root meaning transitional movement (cf. Sanskrit "yana-" or Avestan "yah-", likewise with Latin "i-" and Greek "ei-".). Iānus would then be an action name expressing the idea of going, passing, formed on the root *yā- < *y-eð(2)- theme II of the root *ey- go from which eō, ειμι.
Other modern scholars object to an Indo-European etymology either from Dianus or from root *yā-.
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