----- Original Message -----
Sent: Monday, February 25, 2002 1:21 PM
Subject: [tied] Re: I, Hercules [was: A "Germanic"
query]
> But on the same subject: Which "interpretatio" is Herodotus using
when he mentions the seven gods of the Scythians, of which five have Scythian
names but Heracles and Ares Greek ones?
Assuming that Herodotus is right, they may have worshipped some Greek
gods or demigods, just as the Romans and the Etruscans did. The remaining
deities on Herodotus' list are non-Greek and there is no evidence that any kind
of "interpretatio Graeca" guided his methodology. By contrast, "interpretatio
Romana" is Tacitus' own term for his consciously applied interpretive method, as
explained by the author himself.
> And BTW, how do you reconstruct
<thunar>?
PGmc. *þun[a]raz (OE þunor/þunr-, OHG thonar, OS thuner,
ON þórr < *þonrr < *þunraz) < *tnh2-ro-s, from *(s)tonh2-
'resound'.
Piotr