Re: Interpreting some Scythian names

From: Sergejus Tarasovas
Message: 10630
Date: 2001-10-26

--- In cybalist@..., george knysh <gknysh@...> wrote:

>here's a translation of
> a Petrovian footnote on the Scythian River Mother
> Goddess API (SE, p.153, n2: "Of all Indo-European
> languages the word API is closest to the Baltic
> lexicon. Cf. OlPr "APE" ("river": Elbing glossary,62);
> Lith., Latv. "UPE". Compare Hitt. "HAP" "river"
> "stream".

> And
> here's another one about the Scythian Goddess "TABITI"
> (SE, p. 154): "Scythian TABITI" meant "she who is the
> best" "she who is the most accomplished" "she who is
> the highest" (cpre Lith. "TOBULAS"= "accomplished",
> "TOBULETI" = "to make one's self better, more
> accomplished", "TOBULYBE" = "accomplishment,
> superiority". According to E. Fraenkel (Litauisches
> Etymologisches Woerterbuch, II, 1105) the word
> "TOBULAS" "has no etymology" and is without close
> analogies in other Indo-European languages: which
> testifies to the deep archaism of this Balto-Scythian
> name."******

I did my best trying to find a convincing etymology for Lith.
<to'bulas> 'perfect' in the sources at hand, but I failed. Still I
can hardly believe nothing has changed since Fraenkel's times (his
dictionary represents mostly the achievements of pre-World War II
linguistics), so I won't give up.
Among others which have occured to me, the following tentative guess
seemes to be the most "stable": probably we deal with a s-less
variant of PIE *steh2- 'stand, stay etc', so the word in question
could be etymologized as a deverbative < *to'b- 'to be finished'
(<'to be unchangable' > 'to be perfect', the -ul-suffix is often used
in derivations [mediopassive verb]>[adjective with the
meaning 'having quality of']) < *(s)teh2-bh- (such -bh-derivatives
are not very common, but are still registered for Baltic, Germanic
and Indo-Arian) 'to be unchangable', cf. accentological
characteristics of the word (acute stressed oxytonon).

As for the comparison of ("Scythian", according to Herodotus) <Api'>
~ Baltic *a`pe: (if the East Baltic forms are indeed of secondary
origin, < *h2p- is not impossible, and we would have to speak of West
Baltic *a`pe: vs. East Baltic *u`pe: in that case) < *h2ap- and
<Tabiti'> ~ (unregistered) Baltic **ta:bi:te:, they are not
impossible from the formal point of view. The origin of the Baltic
nominal ending *-e:~ is disputable, the two competing hypotheses
being < 1. *-j-eh2 (in which case the circumplex would be of
metatonic origin) 2. *-i-:-ei-:-oi- stems (like Latin re:s < *ri-
:*rei-:*roi-), but in any case "Scythian" <-i'> ~ Baltic *-e: looks
normal. Again, formant -y'te.-:-y~te. < -i:t-e: (with prosodical
vaccilation between dialects) is common in Lithuanian, the major
meanings being 'having the quality of' (also used to form nomina
collectiva, esp. toponyms), so **Ta:bi:te: doesn't look impossible as
well. The only problem is that two examples are not enough to approve
or reject such ad hoc'ish explanations. It would be nice if you
provided me with at least 20-30 of Petrov's Scytho-Baltic
counterparts.

Another question is how Petrov has come to the semantics like 'River
Mother Goddess' for <Api'> and 'she who is the best' for <Tabiti'>.
Herodotus in his History writes (4.59.1):

theou`s me`n mou'nous tou'sde hila'skontai Histi'e:v me`n ma'lista
epi` de` Di'a kai` Ge:~n nomi'zontes te:`n Ge:~n tou~ Dio`s ei~nai
gunai~ka
...
onoma'zetai de` skuthisti` Histi'e: me`n Tabiti' ... Ge:~ de` Api'

Just that. In 4.127.1 he adds that Idanthyrsus stated that:

despo'tas de` emou`s ego:` Di'a te nomi'zo: to`n emo`n pro'gonon kai`
Histi'e:n te:`n Skuthe'o:n basi'leian mou'nous ei~nai

So, <Api'> is The Earth, the wife of Zeus. No river-like
connotations. Hestia 'is called' <Tabiti'> and is
worshipped 'especially' (ma'lista), she's 'queen of the Scythians',
but this special treatment still doesn't imply her Scythian _name_
means 'the best'. As for Hestia, she, whatever be it's Greek name's
etymology, is a goddes of the hearth, no more 'perfect' than other
goddeses. The Herodotus' analogy can be easily explained in the light
of most (East-)Iranians being fire-worshippers. So, in semantic
terms, so to say, Petrov's comparison is ungrounded and must be
rejected.

Sergei