Re: [tied] Targitaos, "father of all Scythians"

Some of the names mentioned so far cannot be connected with
Middle Eastern fish goddesses in any way. Hittite Tarhu- (=
Luwian Tarhunt-, Lycian Trqqa-) was a storm god, often
identified with Hurrian Teshub. The name may be Hattic
(Taru), but might also be derived from or at least
secondarily associated with the verb root tarh- 'win, be
powerful'. There's nothing female or fishy about this deity.
The connection between Tirgatao and Mitannic Tirgutawija is
offered on the basis of "general resemblance" without a
detailed analysis, and therefore difficult to discuss. The
orthography of the latter form does not differentiate
between voiced and voiceless stops, so one it free to
interpret it in a number of ways.

Names are hard to etymologise if analysed in isolation. When
we have a number of similarly formed names, clear patterns
usually emerge and recurrent elements can be identified.
Even if we can't determine their meaning, some kind of
combinatorial analysis becomes possible.

Piotr

----- Original Message -----
From: "george knysh" <gknysh@...>
To: <cybalist@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Friday, October 26, 2001 6:51 PM
Subject: Re: [tied] Targitaos, "father of all Scythians"


>
> --- "João_S._Lopes_Filho" <jodan99@...> wrote:
> > Could be TIRGUTAWIA, TIRGATA and TARKHU related to
> > IE *dHrg^Hu- "strong,
> > bold" ?
>
> ******GK: My impression had been that this Goddess
> originated in the Middle East and that her name
> therefore might me reconstructed by reference to some
> non-IE languages. That she was "borrowed" by the
> Scythians and brought back to Scythia, adapted to
> local myths etc..=== But if your surmise that the name
> actually IS IE is backed up by other linguists, then a
> different explanation would have to be sought for its
> emergence. It would be a Middle Eastern borrowing FROM
> IE rather than the other way around. At any rate we're
> looking at roughly the mid-second millennium BC for
> the first known uses (Hittite, Mitannian). The
> Scythian Foundation Legend claims that TARGITAUS
> flourished "1,000 years" before Darius' invasion of
> Scythia. This obviously needs to be taken with a grain
> of salt, but IS indicative of "high antiquity" and
> certainly as prior to the first arrival of the Royal
> Scythians west of the Don. Any more ideas, anyone?
> *****