--- In
cybalist@yahoogroups.com, "Joao S. Lopes" <josimo70@...>
wrote:
>
> Goal: to gather data for assuring a hypothesis that PIE mythology
include a deity from the underground, earthquake-bringer, snakelike.
>
> Traits:
>
> *bHudH- "bottom"
>
> Ahir Budhnya (India), Python (Greece), Nidhöggr (Scandinavia)
>
> *eg^Hi-, H2engW(H)i- "snake"
>
> Ahir Budhnya (India), Az^i Dahaka (Persia), Ekhidna and Typhon
(Greece), Nidhöggr (Scandinavia)
>
> *dHubH- "dark"
>
> Typhon (Greece), Domnu (Ireland)
>
> earthquakes
>
> Typhon, Poseidon (Greece), Loki (Scandinavia)
>
> How Poseidon fits into this scheme? Poseidon's name has many
dialectal variants: Poteida:n, Potida:n, Pohoida:n, Poseida:on. I
think this great variety implies a hard adaptation of a non-Greek
name. So, linking this name to *poti- or any another Greek etymology
is implausible (I don't believe that posei- is a frozen vocative
*potei-). The Mycenian form is po-se-da-o, which implies
*poseida:hon.
>
> How this name can be analysed?
>
> *Po-seida:h-on
>
> *Posei-da:h-on
>
> *Pose-ida:h-on
>
> An idea occurred to me: a link between Poseida:hon and Ahi Budhnya
(inverted, Budhnya Ahi). The source would be another IE language.
>
> So, following this way:
>
> *Pot-/Pos- < *bHudH(yo-)
>
> *ida:hon < *eg^Hi (this is more rough)
>
> Conclusion:
>
> I'm studying this hypothetical entity, it was a kind of dragon or
dragon-god (H1eg^Hi-, H2egWHi-), underground-dwelling (*bHudH-, *ni-
), dark (dHubH-), its power or bulk provoking earthquakes (cf. Loki,
Typhon, Poseidon), venomous or fire-breathed.
Dear Joao,
Let me sum up some tidbits of received wisdom re: the etymology of
the name Poseidon (forgive me for my incompetence with the use of
phonetic symbols, which I will completely omit to transcribe here).
The Indo-Europeanist Paul Kretschmer (in this followed by Karl
Kerényi) saw in the name of Poseidon a juxtaposition of the
Greek /potei/ (or /posis/) meaning `lord, husband' and /da(n)/,
meaning `earth'. This is perhaps connected with the fact that
Poseidon once possessed Demeter (the Earth Mother), with both
divinities manifesting themselves in horse form in this myth.
According to the Austrian archaeologist Fritz Schachermeyr, this
linguistic hypothesis would be supported by some tablets, found at
the Mycenaean palace-city of Pylos, which carry Linear B
inscriptions recording offerings made to various gods.
The suffix /-dan/, derived by the (pre-Greek?) root /da-/ `earth'
(cf. Da-mater/ De-meter = Earth Mother), would qualify the pre-Greek
Poseidon as the `Lord (or Husband) of (the Goddess of) Earth'. Thus,
a chthonic divinity, not an oceanic one. Poseidon was not originally
a sea god at all; he was, instead, a god of the earth, as shown by
his responsibility for earthquakes. He only later received rulership
of the sea, as a brother of Olympian Sky-Father Zeus. Like his mate
Demeter (*not* because he was a sea god, which he became later), he
was associated with horses. In his sea-aspect, Poseidon was
oracular; the oracle of the dead at Cape Tainaron was under his
dominion, according to Walter Burkert. The latter scholar also notes
that some authorities gave Poseidon original ownership of the oracle
at Delphi. Poseidon was, thus, seen as the Lord of the Deep, or
the "Lord of the Below". Burkert writes that the horse, associated
to Poseidon, is seen as a chthonic creature and that there is a
strong relationship between the birth of the horse and water.
On the concerned Pylos tablets, see:
http://www.ulg.ac.be/archgrec/testImages/aegeum/aegaeum22(pdf)/55%
20NOSCH-PERNA.pdf
There is also an interesting message posted to the ANE List by
Egyptologist Aayko Eyma:
http://oi.uchicago.edu/OI/ANE/ANE-DIGEST/1998/v1998.n282
--------------------/start quote/---------------------------
<< There is in fact one explicit link [leading from Poseidon to
Demeter] in Pausanias VIII,25 and 42: The Arkadian myth of how
Demeter was grazing as a mare in the Thelpousaian area. Poseidon
took on the shape of a stallion and coupled with her. Demeter then
bore the divine stallion Areion, which entered into the service of
the regional hero Onkios, then of Herakles and finally of Adrastos
(Iliad 23:346-7). In other poems this horse is called "Thelpousaian
Areion, whom Earth produced", and in an Oracle the Arkadians are
called "people of stallion-mated Deo" (Da, De). Pausanias says it
was because of this myth that the Arkadians called Poseidon "Horse
Poseidon" (Hippos); VIII, 10,2; 14,5; 25,7. In the rest of Greece,
the general title was "Poseidon of Horses" (VII,21,2;V,15,5).
The other links are indeed more indirect:
-- The epiteth of Poseidon in the Illias being so very, very
often "Earth-shaker" (gaieochos, enosichthon, ennosigaios), showing
his strong links with the earth.
-- the three gods associated with horses are Poseidon, Demeter
(Earth)(*), and Hades (Netherworld). This shows the animal to be
chthonic in nature in Greek view, again associating Poseidon with
earth. [* Demeter f.e. sits on a horse-skin in the Parthenon frieze,
and in Arkadia she was depicted with a horse head (Pausanias
VIII,42,4)]
-- the brotherly triad dividing the earth (Iliad 15:187), seems to
have been originally: Zeus (Heaven) / Poseidon (Earth) / Hades
(Netherworld). When Poseidon was reassigned to the sea, the earth
became shared ground. Still the "thirth parts" concept remained to
be used in the myth.
-- Ephorus says that the Peloponnesus was the original abode of
Poseidon, and that the land was dedicated to him. The Lineair B
tablets confirm the predominance of this god in the area (rather
than Zeus). Also, 'da' for earth seems to be part of the Arkado-
Cypriotic dialect (cf. old Cypriotic word for nymphes:
endaides "they who are in the earth").
It seems logical that the link of Poseidon as god of earth and earth-
quakes and Poseidon as god of the sea, is formed by the notion of
him being the god of the waters under the earth.
[Poseidon's]association with horses is VERY strong. >>
--------------------------/end quote/--------------------------
Kindest regards,
Francesco Brighenti
VAIS -- Venetian Academy of Indian Studies
Venice, Italy