Miguel:
> psS - to part, divide, cut in two, halve
> kf (k3f) - obsidian? silex? a kind of knife
Are you serious?! I was thinking in fact that /kf/ might mean
"stone" and hence "stone knife". The reason why was because this
object reminds me of an abstractified descendent of the horns
and double axe, pined down to a simple pillar shape with what looks
like a symmetrical fish-tail motif on top (a derivative of the
double-horns perhaps?). But why was I thinking this? Am I mad?
Probably, but listen for a sec...
The theory has adapted.
I was thinking that if a conjectural Tyrrhenian word *kupta
meant "stone" instead of "pillar" then *kuptar could refer for one
thing to both "The Pillars" and "The Mountains", both being legendary
Central World Objects made of stone that hold up the sky and keep
Chicken Little from getting anxious :) In Greek Myth, the Central
Object is lo and behold a mountain (Mount Olympus) and in Egyptian
myth, it's, well, Geb's phallus. We also have "The Pillar of Isis"
which was also a Central World Object motif and a connection exists
again with the phallus and fertility.
As we can all see, these common symbolisms of the Central World Object
were paramount to Mediterranean and Middle-Eastern religions at the
time, representing at once continued fertility (both physical and
agricultural) and creation. It provided a sacred and powerful model
of the cosmos to help understand it. That's a versatile symbol!
So I'm not going to back down on this idea just yet but I will
modify it to include more than just Crete. If *Kuptar thus means
"Stones", referring to not only to the mountains and the pillars (both
mythological ones that hold up the sky and the real ones in palaces),
this is then a very sensible name by all accounts for the... Aegean
islands. (The islands can be romantically thought of as stones laid
down by the gods into the Sea.)
The Tyrrhenian peoples, particularly the Minoans, were in charge of
this area, there is no doubt, so to think that *Kuptar is a Minoan
word is not strange because the adoption of this evidently foreign
name by neighbouring Egyptians and Ugaritic would be a natural outcrop
of strong trading alliances which we already know had existed at that
time, being managed by the Minoans!
So, I guess then, we might consider *Kuptar a general term for
the overall area of Minoan reign which would cover Crete, the
Aegean islands and Western Turkey. If so, everyone should be happy
with this idea because the Anti-Crete camp could then accept that
*Kuptar is at least referring to the eastern half of this area,
those areas in Anatolia and thereabouts.
= gLeN