--- In
cybalist@yahoogroups.com, "A." <xthanex@...> wrote:
>
> Quick question:
> I've looked through the archives and a few other sites, and been unable to find any clear etymology for the name Hermes (and the hermae pillars).
> Am I simply missing it, or has one not been successfully established?
Beekes considers 'Hermes' to be unanalyzable Pre-Greek, but I am not so sure. He admits a possible connection with Attic-Ionic <herme:neús> 'interpreter, expounder', which he also regards as Pre-Greek. Whatever the origin of the Greek suffix -eús, it was clearly productive in forming denominal terms for persons connected with specified things or activities, thus <hippeús> 'horseman', <agreús> 'hunter', <bapheús> 'dyer', etc. The suffix -é:n, -e:n- in turn forms denominals like <leskhé:n> 'chatterer' from <léskhe:> 'public place; gossip, chatter', hence in fact <leskhe:neúo:> 'I chat with' beside <herme:neúo:> 'I interpret'. A presumed noun *hermé:n could thus have been derived from an abstract *hérma:, Att.-Ion. *hérme: 'articulate speech, connected discourse', formed like <phé:me:> 'speech, report' (Doric <phá:ma:>, Latin <fa:ma>) and leading in turn to <herme:neús>. The IE root would be *ser- 'to line up, join together, connect' whence also, by a different suffix, Lat. <sermo:> 'connected speech, discourse' (Pokorny's *ser-(4), IEW p. 911).
'Hermes' comes in two morphologies. One type includes Attic <Hermês>, poetic <Herméa:s>, Epic-Aeolic <Hermeía:s>, and Mycenaean <E-ma-a2> /Herma(:)íha:i/ (dative). The other includes Laconic-Arcadian <Hermân> and poetic (mostly Doric) <Hermá:o:n>. Homer has several personal names of this latter type; among them <Aretá:o:n> and <Makhá:o:n> appear to be formed on <areté:> 'virtue' and <mákhe:> 'battle'. Chantraine identifies the same suffix in Hom. <Iá:ones> 'Ionians', which is known to have had a */w/ (Hebrew <Ya:wa:n> 'Greece', Sanskrit <Yavana-> 'Greek'). The original form *Iá:wo:n 'Ionian' can then be derived from <iá:>, Ion. <ié:> 'voice, sound, shout'; as an ethnonym 'Shouter' has parallels elsewhere. <Hermá:(w)o:n> is thus to be understood as 'Provider of Articulate Speech' or the like, the god who facilitates interpretation, the god of travelers, traders, and others who must interpret. 'Poseidon' has a similar formation, Hom. <Poseidá:o:n>, Dor. <Poti:dân>, <Poteidân>, <Poteidá:(w)o:n>, Pergaman <Potoidân>, Myc. dat. <Po-se-da-o-ne>. This name has been variously analyzed but to me it looks like a denominal in *-wo:n of a noun *potei-da: 'land in the drink' i.e. 'flooded land'. The preposed locative is parallel to those in <Hali-karnassós> 'Carnassus by the Sea', <khamai-léo:n> 'lion on the ground', etc. If this is correct, Poseidon was originally a god of flooding rivers, like his Italic counterpart Neptune.
The first-declension type of <Hermês> is more difficult since there is no parallel for it as a simple denominal suffixation of *hérma:. It is more likely to be an objective compound like Lat. <agricola>, <parrici:da>, etc., and Boeotian <Olumpioní:ka:> 'Olympic victor'. Many dialects attached -s to the masc. nom. sg. of this type, and of course Attic-Ionic has -e:s from -a:s here. The verbal second element of the compound is hard to determine but <Hermeía:s> requires */i/ or */y/ and <E-ma-a2> points to internal */h/, but not directly preceding */y/. One possibility is *H1eis- 'to set in fast motion, send quickly' (P.'s *eis-(1), IEW pp. 299-301) found in Skt. <pres.aya-> (*pra-is-aya-) 'to send', <is.u-> 'arrow', <is.udhi-> 'quiver', etc., and Greek <i:ós> (*is-wos) 'arrow'. Classical Attic has generalized /o/ as the stem-vowel in compounds such as <numphokómos> but /a:/ is retained metri gratia in <genea:lógos> and the like. Hence we may presume an archaic Greek compound *Herma:-eiha:- 'Quick Sender of Articulate Speech'; perhaps the god was portrayed as sending inspiration as swiftly as an arrow to those who must interpret.
DGK