The name of Îris (῏Ιρις), the goddess who functions as divine messenger, is a “speaking name” (nomen loquens), deriving from the root *uī- as in īs ‘force, violence, strength’. This word īs and also the word biē, which likewise means ‘force, violence, strength’, is conventionally associated with the power of winds, as at I.17.739 and at I.16.213 respectively. Likewise, the goddess Iris herself is powered by windspeed, as we see from the expression podēnemos ōkea Îris (ποδήνεμος ὠκέα Ἶρις) ‘Iris swift with feet of wind’ at I.18.196 and elsewhere.