Re: [tied] Basileus

From: markodegard@...
Message: 7553
Date: 2001-06-11

> As for Akhilleús ~ *Akhí-la:wos, both expressive gemination and
-eú-stem inflection are frequent in Greek hypocorisms (pet names).
Compare Ne:leús ~ *Nehé-la:wos (the full form apparently attested in
Linear B ne-e-ra-wo). Of course *-a:wo- cannot have DEVELOPED into
-eu- in Mycenaean Greek, but I'm talking of morphological REPLACEMENT
along the following lines: *gWasí-la:wos > hypocoristically truncated
vocatives like *gWasil-eu 'boss!' (for "expected" *gWasi-la:we) > a
new nominative (*gWasileús > basileús).
>
> Piotr

Well. Robert Graves says Achilles means 'lipless', it referring to the
skull of an oracular hero. He says there seem to have been multiple
Achilles.