Rodos
/ˈroʊ.dɒs/noun
Rodos is the standard modern Greek name and a transliteration of Rhodes, the Greek island in the southeastern Aegean Sea.
Did you know?Ancient writers linked Rodos with the Greek word rhódon, “rose,” but many scholars classify the island’s name as pre-Greek, meaning its original sense may be permanently lost.
Etymological Timeline
Pre-Greek antiquity
Pre-Greek
*Rodos
“A probably pre-Greek place-name whose original meaning is unknown.”
Ancient Greek
Ancient Greek
Ῥόδος (Rhódos)
“Rhodes, the island and its principal city; later associated by Greeks with rhódon, “rose.””
Classical Greece
Ancient Greek
Ῥόδιος (Rhódios)
“Rhodian, or relating to Rhodes.”
Roman period
Latin
Rhodus
“The island of Rhodes, borrowed from Greek.”
Byzantine Greek
Greek
Ῥόδος (Ródos)
“The continuing Greek name for the island.”
Modern English
English
Rodos
“A transliteration of modern Greek Ródos; English more commonly uses Rhodes.”
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