aþalja u. Geschlecht, Wesen, adj. aus
edlem Geschlecht. an. eli, øli n. Natur, Wesen; as. athali n. edles Geschlecht,
athali, etheli edel, ags. æþele adj. edel, æþelu f. edle Herkunft; ahd. edili,
mhd. edile, edil von gutem Geschlecht, edel, nhd. edel.
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Eðele (Aethel): The Germanic Concept Of
The Noble According to Emile Benveniste
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I have scanned Benveniste‘s famous
article, entitled: “Royauté et Noblesse” which deals with the Germanic
term Eðele “Athel”. The article reveals how some linguists like to talk
off the tops of their heads when it comes to dealing with etymology. I am
including the article in its entirety for you to read and hopefully comment
upon. Please read it fully, and pay special attention to the conclusion he
reaches in the last paragraph.
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Le Vocabulaire des Institutions
Indo-Européennes, par Emile Benveniste 2- Pouvoir, Droit, religion.
Tome II, Royauté et Noblesse, p 85-88, Les Editions De Minuit,
1969,
"Quite different is the Germanic
conception of the noble, which is expressed by the German edel, and it poses a
much more difficult problem. The word appears in Old English, in Middle English,
and in Old High German in forms which do not show great differences from those
in use today. They all go back to an ancient *atalo-, cf. Old Norse edal, which
alternates with uodal, corresponding to German Adel "the Nobility".This
reconstructed Germanic form *atalo- has no etymological connexions and appears
to be quite isolated.
However, there is a form which
corresponds to it but has an entirely different sense: this is the Greek atalos"
childish, infantile, puerile". This, adjective may be linked with the verb
atallo (the translation of which would be "play like a child, jump, amuse
oneself''). Finally we have a reduplicated present atitallo feed a child,
rear it'. All this is not very precise in Greek itself; but the main point is
that it is difficult to see any point of contact with the notion designated by
the Germanic group. Because of this disparity of meaning, the etymological
dictionaries scout this connection.
All the same it is worth while giving
close scrutiny to the sense of the Greek words. Our research will lead to
another realm of the vocabulary, but we shall still be dealing with
institutions.
While the verb atallo is hardly
attested at all, we have numerous examples of atitallo and it has a much more
precise sense than rear, feed. Certainly it is used together with trepho
feed, bring up: e.g. Il 24, 60. 'I fed him and reared him'; but we may
also quote Odyssey (18, 323):: 'she had brought him up like a child'. These two
passages contain the essential significance: 'rear like a child', that is as if
he were a member of the family, which was not actually the case.
In all the examples the verb is
exclusively applied to a child who is not one's own child, like Hera for
Achilles' mother (Il. 24, 60). It was never used in speaking of one's own child.
Hesiod also takes it in this sense (Theog. 480).
We now see what this verb refers to. It
denotes an institution which is known under the scientific term of 'fosterage',
the use of a foster-parent. This is a very important custom, particularly in
Celtic and Scandinavian society, and it was the rule in the case of royal
children. Noble families had the custom of entrusting their children to another
family to be reared until a certain age. This was a real relationship, often
stronger than the blood tie, which was established between the two families. In
the ancient Scandinavian law codes there are laws, called gragas, which define
the status of the child so entrusted and the conduct of the parents who are to
rear it. Among the Celts the fact is well known from historic traditions
and the legends. Normally the royal children are confided to another family,
generally that of the mother, that is to the maternal grandfather of the child.
There is a special term to designate the foster-father: this is aite, which
corresponds to the Latin atta, theGreek atta, and the verb which designates this
custom is in Scandinavian fostra. Hubert, in his book on the Celts, cites many
witnesses to this institution. Fosterage is also well attested among the
Caucasian nobility, especially in Georgia.
We may now posit the existence of this
institution in Greece itself, where it is to be recognized in the verb atitallo.
There must have been other terms relating to this notion, but they have been
preserved only by chance. Thus we have an inscription from Gortyna in Crete
which presents the word atitaltas, which certainly designates the tropheus or
foster father.
Now that we have determined the
institutional sense of this verb, we find traditions which may be connected with
it. We recall how Achilles was brought up by Phoenix (Il. 9, 485-495) or, according to a different
tradition, by Chiron. If we explored mythical and legendary traditions, we
would be sure to discover other confirmations: the essential point it to be able
to identify and designate this custom. We may be sure that atitallo was
applied solely to children reared outside their own family, whatever the reason
may have been, whether to escape from some danger or to be brought up in certain
tradition. We may now proceed to an examination of this root *atalo-
of the Greek adjective. It has a striking resemblance to the
Tocharian atal, but this word simply means man and it is not possible to tell
whether this is not a simple coincidence.
The formation itself of atalos suggests
that it is a derivative in -lo- from the word which is represented by atta, a
word denoting father, which is known all over the Indo European World: e.g.
Gothic atta, Latin atta father, Sanskr. itatti, feminine, a familiarly term for
the elder sister, Irish aite, Hittite attas father (the word pater does
not appear in Hittite).
The form atta is always regarded,
because of its geminated consonant, as a word of the child's language (cf.
pappa, mamma).
"However the Irish form aite takes on a
special significance because the institution of fosterage still existed in
Ireland in historical times: aite is the term for the foster-father and
not for the natural father. It is perhaps not an accident that Telemachus
addresses Eumaeus by the term atta, if atta was the specific name for
foster-father in Greek.
At the conclusion of this study we
return to the Germanic edel (Aethel). If it was the tradition of great families,
particularly royal families, to entrust their children to foster-fathers, it
might follow that the very fact of being so brought up would imply a degree of
nobility. Edelin that case would simply have meant the 'nursling', with the
implication that children brought up by foster-parents could only be of noble
birth. This would give precision to the relationship indicated by OHG
adal' race' and OE adelu noble origin, etc. In this way some scattered
fragments of a prehistoric tradition would, on this hypothesis, find their
original unity and the correspondence of form would agree with the sense
posited. " (Emile Benveniste)
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Ishinan: IMHO, it is basically word
salad . . . . it kind of reminds me of the incoherent rambling nonsense that
Sarah Palin spews out, with the exception that some of his words have more than
one syllable.
Ishinan
I/22/11