--- In
cybalist@yahoogroups.com, "raucousd" <raucousd@...> wrote:
> Noticeable among Semitic gods are the forms Assur, the god of the
> Assyrians (that's why they were called Assyrians, he was their
> chief god).
I believe the endlessly repeated, but most dubious linguistic
connection Assyrian A$$ur :: OIA asura, O.Ir. ahura has been
discussed several times on the cybalist in the past, but I will, at
any rate, spend a few words to criticize it, provided that I've
never done so here before.
1) ASSYRIAN A$$UR
What appears certain to modern Assyriologists is that the evidence
shows that the god A$$ur is the deified city of A$$ur. Indeed, since
Old Assyrian documents there is a lack of distinction between the
two. W.G. Lambert ("The God Assur", _Iraq_ 45 [1983], pp. 82-86)
hypothesizes that the site of A$$ur, an impressive natural hill,
was a holy spot in prehistoric times, and that this led to its dual
character of city and god. The god is, thus, a hypostasization the
sacred spot on which the city of A$$ur was founded; he was not
originally a _deus persona_, and one would look for an etymology of
both the city-name and the divine name appropriate to toponyms and
not theonyms.
Consequently, any attempt to connect A$$ur with Indo-Iranian divine
names such as OIA asura and O.Ir. ahura seems inappropriate from the
start.
(As for the etymology of A$$ur, there seems to be no consensus among
Assyriologists to date; an oft-debated hypothesis in the first half
of the 20th century was that the name was derived from the Sumerian
toponym <a-usar> meaning 'water plain', 'well-watered land', 'water
settlement' and the like.)
2) PROTO-INDO-IRANIAN *HASURA- 'GOD, LORD'
In his IA etym. database (based on M. Mayrhofer's one), A. Lubotsky
derives this word from PIE *h2ns-u-(ro)- (compare with C. Watkins:
oldest form *h2ensu-/h2onsu-, colored to *h2ansu-/h2onsu-; suffixed
zero-grade form *n&su-ro > OIA asura, O.Ir. ahura). The only IE
cognates he gives for this PIIr. term are Hittite has- 'to give
birth', hassu- 'king' and Proto-Germanic *ansuz- 'name of a group of
gods'.
I also want to reproduce here, with some marginal changes, an
interesting redrafting of Pokorny's entry for the root/lemma *ansu-,
*n&su- 'ghost, demon' proposed by Starostin and Lubotsky at
http://us.share.geocities.com/iliria1/etymology1.html :
"Root/lemma: ansu-, n&su- (*Henku-r-): ghost, demon, derived from
root/lemma *ank-2, *ang- 'to bend, bow, flex; wangle; turn; curve,
snake coil, anchor'.
Material:
[Note: Hittite has- 'testify, bear', hassa- 'grandson,
granddaughter'; Hitto-Luwian has(a)- 'generate (produce)', hasmi-
'progeny'; Lydian es'a- 'grandson'; Lycian B qzze-, qezm~mi-,
x.zza~ta~- (Shevoroshkin), Lycian A qehn~- 'progeny'.
'Grandson (grandchildren)' in Hitto-Luwian may be a result of
contamination: cf. Hittite hammasa- 'small (little) child', Luwian
hamsa-, Hitto-Luwian hamasa- 'grandson'.]
Hittite: hassu- 'king', Hitto-Luwian hasusara- 'queen';
Old Indic asu-, Avestan aNhu- 'breath of life, breath, life, spirit,
world'; Old Indic asura-, Avestan ahura- 'ruler, lord' (< *n&su-);
Venetic ahsu- (= a:su-) 'cult effigy, cult figure' = [Proto-]
Germanic *ansuz- 'god, [Ase/Aæsir]', Old Icelandic a:ss-, Runic
a[n]suR-, Old English o:s- '[Ase/Aæsir]', Gothic-Latin anses-
'demigods'.
Note [on] the inanimate suffix -ur-: Old Indic asura-, Avestan ahura-
'ruler, lord' :: [Greek] Illyrioi [ill-ur-ioi] 'Illyrians' [etc.]."
Hope this is of some help,
Francesco