Olympian · adjective, noun1
- Pre-Greek · derived from
- Ancient Greek · derived fromὈλῠ́μπῐος“of or relating to Mount Olympus; living on Mount Olympus; Olympian”
- Latin · derived fromOlympius“of or relating to Mount Olympus”
- Middle English · inherited fromOlympyan
- English todayOlympian
From Late Middle English Olympyan, from Latin Olympius (“of or relating to Mount Olympus”) and its etymon Ancient Greek Ὀλῠ́μπῐος (Olŭ́mpĭos, “of or relating to Mount Olympus; living on Mount Olympus; Olympian”) + English -an (suffix forming adjectives meaning ‘of or pertaining to’, or forming agent nouns). Ὀλῠ́μπῐος (Olŭ́mpĭos) is derived from Ὄλῠμπος (Ólŭmpos, “Mount Olympus”) (from Pre-Greek) + -ῐος (-ĭos, suffix forming adjectives meaning ‘of or pertaining to’).
Olympian · adjective, noun2
- Ancient Greek · derived fromὈλυμπῐ́ᾱ“Olympia”
- Latin · derived fromOlympia“town in Elis, Greece, where the ancient Olympic Games were held”
- Late Latin · derived fromOlympianus“Olympic”
- English todayOlympian
From Late Latin Olympianus (“Olympic”) + English -an (suffix forming adjectives meaning ‘of or pertaining to’, or forming agent nouns). Olympianus is derived from Latin Olympia (“town in Elis, Greece, where the ancient Olympic Games were held”) + -ānus (suffix meaning ‘of or pertaining to’); and Olympia is from Ancient Greek Ὀλυμπῐ́ᾱ (Olumpĭ́ā, “Olympia”), from Ὀλῠ́μπῐος (Olŭ́mpĭos, “of or pertaining to Mount Olympus; living on Mount Olympus, Olympian; (specifically) Zeus”) or Ὄλῠμπος (Ólŭmpos, “Mount Olympus”) (see further at etymology 1) + -ῐ́ᾱ (-ĭ́ā, suffix forming feminine abstract nouns). As regards noun sense 1 (“inhabitant of the city of Olympia, Washington, United States”), the city was named after the Olympic Mountains which are visible to the northwest, which in turn were named after Mount Olympus in Greece.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.