JANUS. According to most linguists, the word ianus seems to be based upon the root iā, which constitutes an extension of the Indo-European root ei- ("to go"). This abstract term, signifying "passage," alternates between the stem form -u- and the stem form -o-. From the first are formed the derivatives Ianuarius ("January"), ianu-al (a biscuit reserved for Janus), and ianu-a ("door"). From the second comes iani-tor ("porter"), Iani-culum (Janiculum Hill), and Iani-gena (daughter of Janus). In the Roman pantheon Janus is an original figure who has no Greek homologue (Ovid, Fasti 1.90). The Etruscan name Ani, which appears on the sculpture of an augur's liver found at Piacenza, is a borrowing from either Latin or an Italian dialect. Because, as Cicero emphasizes (De natura deorum 2.67), the god embodies the motive of "passage," it is characteristic of him to be at the beginning, in line with the scholar Varro's definition...