Myth & LegendGreek → English
Dennis
/ˈdɛnɪs/noun
A male given name.
The Greek roots
Διονύσιος
Dionýsios
belonging to Dionysus
Literally: “of Dionysus”
Follow a root:Διονύσιος1 word
The story of the word
Διονύσιος was one of the commonest names in the Greek world, worn by tyrants of Syracuse and by the monk who invented the AD dating system. The third-century bishop Denis of Paris carried it into France, where it wore down to Denis, and the Normans brought it to England. The Athenian festival at which tragedy was first staged, the Dionysia, is the same god's name in another shape.
- How it travelled
- Ancient Greek → Latin → Old French → English
Same family
DionysianDeniseSydney
In a sentence
Her grandfather was christened Dennis after a great-uncle nobody had ever met.