Re: Poseidon - meaning

--- In cybalist@yahoogroups.com, Piotr Gasiorowski <gpiotr@...>
wrote:

> The simplest and most natural explanation, if available at all, is

the

> safest bet, at least initially. The -da(:)o:n part recurs in
> <e-ne-si-da-o-ne>, where the first element can be securely

identified,

> cf. Gk. <enosis> 'shaking, earthquake' and <enosikHtHo:n> (another
> epithet of P.). I have little doubt that the segmentation Posei-

/Potei-

> is correct, and if so, this can only be the old vocative of

<posis>.

[...]

> As to the origin and interpretation of
> *da:(h)o:n, I remain agnostic. There is a similarity of phonetic
> treatment, and a similar range of variation, in <hermao:n> (a

variant of

> <herme:s>), but I'm not sure yet what to make of it.
>

As an amateur graecologist who enjoys watching real graecologists
from the sidelines I may be forgiven for asking the following
question: long ago, Paul Kretschmer identified the -da- part with the
*da: in De:me:te:r as a pre-Greek word meaning something
like 'earth', so that _Poseido:n_ means 'Lord of the Earth',
_Ennosida:s_ means 'Shaker of the Earth' (cf. Enosikhtho:n) and
De:me:te:r means 'Earth Mother'. The late Cees Ruijgh used to be
attracted to this idea, witness his early article "Sur le nom de
Poséidon et sur les noms en -a:won-, -i:won-". What is your opinion
on this. Is it Flat Earth etymology?



Willem