Trītōnis¹

Meaning

1. Greekof Athena (used as epithet of her namesake city Athens)
   Illa deam obliquo fugientem lumine cernens murmura parva dedit successurumque Minervae indoluit baculumque capit, quod spinea totum vincula cingebant, adopertaque nubibus atris, quacumque ingreditur, florentia proterit arva exuritque herbas et summa cacumina carpit adflatuque suo populos urbesque domosque polluit et tandem Tritonida conspicit arcem ingeniis opibusque et festa pace virentem1916 translation by Frank Justus Miller, G. P. Goold The hag, eyeing her askance as she flees, mutters awhile, grieving to think on the goddess’ joy of triumph. Then she takes her staff, thick-set with thorns, and, wrapped in a mantle of dark cloud, sets forth. Wherever she goes, she tramples down the flowers, causes the grass to wither, blasts the high waving trees, and taints with the foul pollution of her breath whole peoples, cities, homes. At last she spies Tritonia’s city, splendid with art and wealth and peaceful joy; and she can scarce restrain her tears at the sight, because she sees no cause for others’ tears.8 CE, Ovidius, Metamorphoses 2.794 ("Tritonida...arcem")
   Hac Arethusa tenus; geminos dea fertilis angues curribus admovit frenisque coercuit ora et medium caeli terraeque per aera vecta est atque levem currum Tritonida misit in urbem Triptolemo partimque rudi data semina iussit1916 translation by Frank Justus Miller, G. P. Goold With this, Arethusa’s tale was done. Then the goddess of fertility yoked her two dragons to her car, curbing their mouths with the bit, and rode away through the air midway between heaven and earth, until she came at last to Pallas’ city. Here she gave her fleet car to Triptolemus, and bade him scatter the seeds of grain she gave, part in the untilled earth and part in fields that had long lain fallow.8 CE, Ovidius, Metamorphoses 5.645 ("Tritonida...urbem")
2. of lake Triton
   huc coit aequoreus Nasamon, invadere fluctu audax naufragia et praedas avellere ponto; huc, qui stagna colunt Tritonidos alta paludis, qua virgo, ut fama est, bellatrix edita lympha1934 translation by J. D. Duff Hither came the Nasamones from the sea, men who fear not to attack wrecked ships upon the water, and to snatch their booty from the deep; and hither came the dwellers by the deep pools of Lake Tritonis, where the Maiden Warrior sprang, as legend tells, from the water and anointed Libya, before other lands, with the olive-oil which she herself had discovered.c. 83 CE – 96 CE, Silius Italicus, Punica 3.322
   Perseus, una earum tradente, exceptum in paludem / Tritonida proiecit.Hyginus, De astronomia 2.12.2.7

Origins

From Ancient Greek Τρῑτωνίς (Trītōnís), seemingly formed from Τρῑ́των (Trī́tōn) (either the name of a legendary river, or by some accounts, of a lake in Libya) and the feminine noun- and adjective-forming suffix -ῐς, -ῐδος (-ĭs, -ĭdos). The actual etymology is uncertain. The epithet Tritogeneia (Τρῑτογένειᾰ (Trītogéneiă)) was possibly originally from the root τρῐ́τος (trĭ́tos, “third”).

In the Academy Smith's classical dictionaries

Meaning

1. Greekepithet of the Greek goddess Athena (identified with Roman Minerva)
   est et Athenaeis in moenibus, arcis in ipso / vertice, Palladis ad templum Tritonidis almae, / quo numquam pennis appellunt corpora raucaec. 99 BCE – 55 BCE, Lucretius, De rerum natura 6.750
   [...] At gemini lapsu delubra ad summa draconesBut the twin serpents with a gliding flee to the highest shrines and seek the citadel of savage Tritonis29 BCE – 19 BCE, Vergilius, Aeneis 2.225–226
2. epithet or name of a nymph in Silius Italicus's Punica, mother of the Libyan princess Asbyte and wife to Hiarbas
   Atque is fundarat thalamos Tritonide nympha, / unde genus proavumque Iovem regina ferebatc. 83 CE – 96 CE, Silius Italicus, Punica 2.65

Declension

Origins

From Ancient Greek Τρῑτωνίς (Trītōnís), seemingly formed from Τρῑ́των (Trī́tōn) (either the name of a legendary river, or by some accounts, of a lake in Libya) and the feminine noun- and adjective-forming suffix -ῐς, -ῐδος (-ĭs, -ĭdos). The actual etymology is uncertain. The epithet Tritogeneia (Τρῑτογένειᾰ (Trītogéneiă)) was possibly originally from the root τρῐ́τος (trĭ́tos, “third”).

In the Academy Smith's classical dictionaries