Many explanations of the Jason myth have been given by Scholars who
thought they recognised elemental phenomena in the characters. As usual
these explanations differ widely. Whenever a myth has to be interpreted,
it is certain that one set of Scholars will discover the sun and the
dawn, where another set will see the thunder-cloud and lightning. The
moon is thrown in at pleasure. Sir G. W. Cox determines {96} 'that the
name Jason (Iason) must be classed with the many others, Iasion, Iamus,
Iolaus, Iaso, belonging to the same root.' Well, what is the root?
Apparently the root is 'the root i, as denoting a crying colour, that is,
a loud colour' (ii. 81). Seemingly (i. 229) violet is a loud colour,
and, wherever you have the root i, you have 'the violet-tinted morning
from which the sun is born.' Medea is 'the daughter of the sun,' and
most likely, in her 'beneficent aspect,' is the dawn. But (ii. 81, note)
ios has another meaning, 'which, as a spear, represents the far-darting
ray of the sun'; so that, in one way or another, Jason is connected with
the violet-tinted morning or with the sun's rays. This is the gist of
the theory of Sir George Cox.

Preller {97a} is another Scholar, with another set of etymologies. Jason
is derived, he thinks, from [Greek], to heal, because Jason studied
medicine under the Centaur Chiron. This is the view of the Scholiast on
Apollonius Rhodius (i. 554). Jason, to Preller's mind, is a form of
Asclepius, 'a spirit of the spring with its soft suns and fertile rains.'
Medea is the moon. Medea, on the other hand, is a lightning goddess, in
the opinion of Schwartz. {97b} No philological reason is offered.
Meanwhile, in Sir George Cox's system, the equivalent of Medea, 'in her
beneficent aspect,' is the dawn.

We must suppose, it seems, that either the soft spring rains and the