What does Jovian mean, and what is its etymology?
Jovian means like Jupiter. We use the term “Jovian Planets” to describe the 4 gas giants Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune in the outer solar system. All of these are giant planets not made up of rock matter, being composed instead of things like hydrogen, helium, water, methane, etc (they do have metallic or rocky cores, however). Jovian could also be used to refer to the Roman God Jove or Jupiter himself (after whom the planet was named). There was a Roman Emperor named Jovian as well, so you’ll have to see what context the word appears in, but the most likely use is to refer to the planet Jupiter or to all four gas giants. Here’s the wikipedia entry on Jupiter: http://en.wikipedia.
