Re: Gk. Lyssa

The derivation from *wlkW-j-h2 'wolf-ness' > *lukja is one of the
most likely etymologies of <lussa ~ lutta>, supported e.g. by Calvert
Watkins:

http://www.bartleby.com/61/roots/IE589.html

Personification seems more likely than the conjectural existence of a
PIE she-wolf demon, for which I can't see any comparative evidence
(and the lacunous attestation in Greek, as you point out yourself, is
an additional problem). Perhaps somebody else on the list has heard
of parallel spirit names from other branches.

Piotr



--- In cybalist@..., Miryam y César Libran Moreno <libran@...>
wrote:

>
> Dear all,
> I hope I might be allowed to avail myself of the collective wisdom

of

> the list to try to find a solution to my puzzlement. I have been

trying

> to compile all possible classical references about the goddess

Lyssa,

> the personification of madness or even rabies. The word lyssa and

its

> derivatives (lussaw,lusswn, lusswdhs, lusshthr) are common enough in
> Homer (ex. gr. Il. 9.239. 305, 21.542) with the meaning "raging
> madness", but we don´t find a mention of a goddess called Lyssa

until

> two lost plays by Aeschylus, Toxotides (attested in a vase painting
> illustrating a scene from this tragedy) and Xantriae fr. 169 R.,

both

> dated between 499/8-456 a.C. Later we find her in the cast of

characters

> in Euripides´ Heracles and possibly in a number of later tragedies
> (Pollux 4.142 says the mask of Lyssa was one of the abnormal masks

in

> tragedy, which might imply the stage appearance of the goddess might
> have been some sort of fixture in post-classical plays). I have

always

> thought that Lyssa as a personification of Rabies or Madness was an
> invention of Aeschylus´ and as such she had no impact at all in the
> Greek cult or pantheon; I am no indoeuropeanist, but given her name
> (*luk-yH2) and her obvious connections with wolves and rabid dogs,

I was

> wondering whether she might, after all, be a part of the

indoeuropean

> pantheon, some sort of pre-existing wolf spirit or demon, discarded

by

> the more rational Homer (and the ionian tradition) and taken up

again by

> Aeschylus as some sort of "theatrical prop" to signify stage

madness,

> like he did (in part) with the Erinyes and the Alastores? Do we

have an

> analogous figure in the rest of the indoeuropean pantheon, some

sort of

> wolf-spirit which drives men and dogs mad or rabid, or are there any
> linguistic traces that such a figure could have existed?
> My most expressive thanks in advance.
> Best, Miryam