The verb ερωταω (erotao) means to ask — hence the second part of our English verb to interrogate. It stems from a verb ειρω (eiro), to say or ask, which is identical to a verb that means to bind in rows (of beads in an ornament), which in turn may be related to σειρα (seira), cord or rope.

Our verb ερωταω (erotao) may describe a request for information, to inquire, or for an act of some sort, to request or implore. Unlike this verb's near-synonym αιτεω (aiteo), which mostly describes a request up the social ladder or up the chain of command, our verb ερωταω (erotao) mostly refers to a question among equals, or a request down the social ladder. It's used 58 times in the New Testament, see full concordance, and from it derive:

The noun ιρις (iris) refers to a cluster of things, among them swift Iris (a divine messenger), any sort of bright-colored circle (on peacock feathers, the iris of one's eye), and the multi-colored rainbow (Revelation 4:3 and 10:1 only). It's entirely unclear where our word comes from, and what the primary meaning of our word may have been and which words derive secondarily from that primary meaning. In other words: in English, the rainbow is primarily a sky-bound arc of bands of colors that appears when sunshine and rain come together. In Greek, that's not the case.

The Hebrew word for rainbow is the same as the archer's bow, namely קשת (qeshet), but the Greek word for archer's bow, namely τοξον (toxon) is almost never used for the rainbow, which implies that the Greeks didn't see the rainbow as a colored bow but rather as a circle of any color or white, gold or silver. A variant version of our word ιρις (iris) is ειρη (eire), which is identical to a word that means place of assembly, from the verb ειρω (eiro), to say or ask (see above). That implies that to the Greeks, the rainbow was primarily associated to counsels and conversation. Another word that may have seemed associated is ειρηνη (eirene), or peace-from-completeness.

Verb ειρω (eiro), to say or ask, is identical to ειρω (eiro), to bind, which relates to σειρα (seira), rope. If our noun ιρις (iris) is indeed Indo-European, it may be associated to the Proto-Indo-European root "weyh-" to turn or twist, hence also the English word "wire". The noun σιρος (siros) describes a pit for storage or to trap animals in. The etymology of this word is also entirely unknown.

The golden-winged goddess Iris was a minor deity, who rode the rainbow and served as a messenger among the Olympians — that is: in the Iliad (Il.2.786, 8.398, 23.198). In the Odessey, this role belongs to Hermes, sans rainbow — mostly making use of Zephyrus, the west-wind (see ζοφος, zophos, western gloom). Her sister, Arke, did the same for the Titans, and was banned to Tartarus with them after the Olympian victory. Both sisters are called swift or quick, but Arke's wings became attached to swift-footed characters like Priam, the king of Troy during the war, which in turn reminds of swift-footed Asahel son of Zeruiah.

Our noun ιρις (iris) appears in plural in a description of a corselet that Agamemnon had been gifted by Cinyras, king of Cyprus, which is described as having ten bands of cobalt, twelve of gold and twenty of tin, plus six cobalt serpents, "like the rainbows that [Zeus] sets in the clouds as a portent for humankind" (Il.11.25-28, translation by Peter Green). This clearly reminds of the function of the rainbow: first as a sign of the Noahite covenant — "I set My bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a sign of a covenant between Me and the earth" (Genesis 9:13) — but then as the varicolored (פסס, pasas; ποικιλος, poikilos) robe of Joseph, who envisioned the sun bow down to him (Genesis 37:9).

Here at Abarim Publications we privately suspect that the whole celebrated Greek culture owes much more to the Phoenicians and Hebrews than is commonly appreciated. The Semites taught their alphabet to the Europeans, and clearly added a long list of handy terms for the Greeks to chew on (see our article on the many Hebrew roots of Greek). The -ις suffix is fairly common in Greek, and the part that remains to be explained is suspiciously similar to the Hebrew word for light, namely אור ('or). That would connect our word ιρις (iris) to names like Ur, Uriah and Jairus.

Since it was clear to everybody that the rainbow had something to do with light and water getting together, also see our article on the verb נהר (nahar), meaning both to flow (what a river does) and to shine (what the sun does). Also see the noun νεφελη (nephele), cloud, and note that the Greek word for sun, namely Ηλιος (Helios) is closely similar to the Greek version of the name Elijah, namely Ηλιας (Helias), so close even that the genitive of these two names is identical: Ηλιου (Heliou) means both "of Helios" and "of Elijah".