Property Owned As Tenants In Common
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I believe it originally comes from the roman god Janus (he of first month of the year fame) who was two headed and was the god of doorways, and beginnings and endings. It's later use to describe people who either say one thing then change it later (or give a different version to different people), or those who say something then deny it afterwards has no one source but seems to have crept into our langauge subtly.
Dictionary searches all claim the Janus link. Being two-faced is defined in our culture as being deceitful, dishonest and dishonorable. Maybe that's a bit harsh? Personally, I think someone who needs to be two-faced is struggling with their own inadequacies and missing self-esteem. "Pathetically" may be best adjective to tie in with deceitful etc.
Actually, 'two-faced', meaning 'deceitful', predates any use of the phrase to describe Janus! The playwright, Fletcher, so used it in 1719, which is the earliest-recorded written use. No-one described Janus thus until 1759. Obviously, Janus is two-faced, but only in the completely literal sense that a hanging street-clock is two-faced...ie it faces in two directions.
The figurative usage is the earlier.
QM I am a little confused...You say no-one described Janus until 1759 but the romans were very found of making temples and deity figures of all their gods so therefore Janus's likeness must have been well known to most of europe from the early centuries of the first millenia, no? Although I can see his description may not have been documented till then it must have been known among the populace...though I can see that if this was an entomylogical word link there then "being a janus" might be a description for being deceitful.
I think it is just two words taken from the original phrase which in it's entirety was...'No one could call you two faced or you wouldn't be wearing that one, you ugly b*stard' , but unfortunately I dont know the origin of that particular insult but I am willing to concede that as the learned members above have indicated it might well have been Janus.
I take your point, S. No doubt there were words in Latin to describe Janus's essential quality, presumably made up from 'duo' = two and 'facies' = face...duofacius, perhaps? (Latin was a long, long time ago for me!) Other old European languages probably had suitable adjectives also, as you suggest.
My point really was purely in reference to English usage, since Coggles presented the queried words in English...obviously enough, I suppose. I also presumed the 'deceitful' meaning was the one being asked about rather than the literal one, which is pretty clearcut. I just wanted to get the historical sequence - in our language - right and make it clear that the figurative meaning had nothing at all to do with Janus.
In the same way, there is no real connection between 'straight' = uncurved, as in a line (14th century), and 'straight' = heterosexual, as in a person (1960s). It's perfectly possible to be a stooping, arthritic heterosexual! Cheers
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