Re: [tied] Re: Poseidon - meaning

pielewe wrote:

> As an amateur graecologist who enjoys watching real graecologists
> from the sidelines...

As regards Greek etymology, I'm just an amateur myself.

> 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?
>

I simply don't know. It seems all these etymologies are shots in the
dark, which doesn't mean they are wrong. If <da:> is a synonym of
<kHtHo:n>, then <ennosi-da:-> surely makes sense in terms of Greek
compound formation. Then <-da:o:n> could be a masculine name derived
from a feminine noun in the same way as Old English Horsa was derived
from neuter <hors> (i.e. as a nasal stem in *-o:n), probably with hiatus
rather than an old *w or *h between the vowels.

Piotr