--- In cybalist@..., tgpedersen@... wrote:
> --- In cybalist@..., "Dr. Antonio Sciarretta" <sciarretta@...>
> wrote:
> > At 13:20 06.11.2001 -0200, you wrote:
> > >Could be Greek Boio:tia (boio:tos) < *bHoi- ??? cf. Bajarix,
> Bojorix,
> > >Bohemia, Bavaria (Bajovaria), etc. Perhaps this name came from
> another IE
> > >dialect (where bH->b instead of Greek ph). Boio:tos could be
> equivalent of
> > >Boute:s.
> >
> > Can you tell me what is this root that seems to form ethnical and
> personal
> > names ?
> Probably the one in Dutch boer, German Bauer, ON bondi "farmer";
> Danish bo "to live (in, at), inhabitate".
>
The Boiotians arrived in Greece in the post-LBA Greek Dark Age,
reckoned, I believe, in the 10th century. About the same time the
Phrygians arrived, settling in northern Greece and adjacent parts
where they were known as the Bryges. I suspect these two tribes
migrated from the north together as allies. Archaeological traces
support the contention that they arrived from central Europe.
The Bryges eventually moved into Anatolia to found an ephemeral
empire in the vacuum of that area. Perhaps they were forced out of
their European abode by the expanding Illyrians; perhaps they
determined that Anatolia was a more secure and prosperous homeland.
Remnants of Bryges continued in Europe into the historic period.
My hypothesis is that the Bryges and Boiotians were early Celtic
tribes. The Boiotians were part of the same historic Celtic tribe
known as the Boii in Bohemia (named after them), and both Transalpine
and Cisalpine Gaul. Their name means "cattle", though this may have
also been for their tutelary goddess who was also the eponymous
goddess of the river Boyne in Ireland.
The Bryges lived on in Celtic Europe of the as the Brigantes of
Britain and the Brigantii of southern Germany, and probably, I think,
of the Roman town of Brigetio on the middle Danube. Their eponymous
goddess was known to the Gauls, and lives on today as the Irish Saint
Brigit.
Mythology also shows a connection. Firstly is the myth of the
Calydonian Boar Hunt, which has an exact parallel in Welsh myth. Even
some of the names are similar, and the details of the story are too
close to be coincidental (IMO). Also, Cadmus, the founder of Thebes,
could have a Celtic name, translating roughly as 'War Leader', as I
recall.
Okay, feel free to shoot me down. :-)
cas