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A TIE BETWEEN THE MICRO- AND MACROCOSMOS: ON THE ETYMOLOGY OF HOMERIC ppOTO^1
Анализ поэтической формулы XonaaaGai (Хо'ба'л, XonaEiav, viZovte^) ало Ppoxov aip,ax6evxa в «Илиаде» (Il. 7, 425; 14, 7; 18, 345; 23, 41) показывает, что она встречается лишь в пассажах, связанных со смертью в бою. При этом Ррото^ не имеет принятой этимологии, а толкование выражения Ppoxov aipmoevxa как ‘запекшееся кровь’ не полностью отражает его семантику. В статье предлагается считать это слово производным от и.-е. корня *mer-, обозначающим медленно текущие или стоячие воды (жидкости). Семантический переход от этого значения к значению «гнойная кровь, сукровица, слизь» определяется метафорическим сближением мира природы и человеческого тела; аналогичный изосемантический ряд отмечен в балтийских, славянских и германских языках. Допускается возможность, что восстанавливаемый корень *mer- является родственным хорошо известному корню *mer- со значением ‘умирать’.
Ключевые слова: Ppoxov ai^axoevxa, Гомер, этимология, изосеман-тические ряды, обозначение крови, сукровицы и слизи у индоевропейцев, обозначение стоячих вод у индоевропейцев.
The Homeric noun ppoxo<; means ‘blood that has run from a wound, gore’ (Ebeling 1885, s.v., LSJ 1968, s.v.). In the Iliad ppoxov alpmoevxa occurs only for times (Il. 7, 425; 14, 7; 18, 345; 23, 41) preceded by ano (in anastrophe): v(Zovxe<; ало ppoxov alpaxoevxa (Il. 7, 425), el<; о ке Xo'uafl ano ppoxov al^axoevxa (Il. 14, 7), Xo'uaeiav ano ppoxov al^axoevxa (Il. 18, 345), Xo'uaaaBai ano ppoxov al^axoevxa (Il. 23, 41). This collocation always occurs at the and of the verse (Ebeling 1885; Chantraine 1968, s. v., Frisk 1954, s. v.) that is why ano ppoxov ai^axoevxa is considered by G. S. Kirk
1 A earlier version of this paper has been published in Russian in the following volume: Казанскене В. П. К Этимологии гомеровского Ppoxo^ // Philologia classica. Vol. 3: Язык и стиль памятников античной литературы. Л., 1987. С. 65-72. I am grateful to Prof. Jenny Strauss Clay for reviewing the English version of this article: her thoughtful suggestions have amended both its style and contents. I am, of course, responsible for the subsisting errors.
as a formula (Kirk 1990: ad 14, 3-7 n.) and by R. Janko - as derivative of an old formula (Janko 1992: ad 14, 3-7 n.)2.
These four occurrences deserve to be examined in detail, with special attention to their context. In two passages this formula is used in descriptions of warriors fallen on the battlefield. In Il. 7, 425-426 both the Trojans and the Achaeans come to take away their dead, but cannot tell the corpses apart, until they have washed away the ppoxov alpaxoevxa. Likewise, in Il. 18, 345 Achilles orders to prepare for the washing of Patrocles’ corpse, covered in ppoxov alpaxoevxa. In the remaining two cases, a bath is offered to living persons returning from battle so that they could wash off the ppoxov alpaxoevxa: in Il. 14, 7 for Nestor, who accepts, and in Il. 23, 41 for Achilles - who refuses. The latter context will be particularly important for our argument: after killing Hector, Achilles refuses not only the bath, but also food, saying that he will take neither until Patrocles is buried, and goes to sleep outside on the seashore, thus persisting in remaining ritually impure.
The noun ppoxo^ was used as a base for the adjective ppoxoei^ that appears mostly in the epic texts (especially in the Iliad) in the expression evapa ppoxoevxa denoting the ‘arms and trappings of a slain foe, spoils’, and is interpreted as ‘gory’: ^epoi S’evapa ppoxoevxa Kxeiva^ S'fyov avSpa (Il. 6, 479-480), Kev ey® xov ... 8^®aa^ evapa ppoxoevxa ^epropai (Il. 8 534-535) etc. From the cognate form of perfect medium participle peppox®pevo<; (Il. 11, 41) a denominative verb *ppoxo® (ppoxoopai) can be reconstructed: we find the same participle in Quintus Smyrnaeus (1, 717) and perhaps in Stesichorus (fr. 219 Page)3. It should be stressed however that in all theses cases the adjective ppoxoeu; preserves the semantic link with death: this is especially evident in the case of evapa ppoxoevxa, where evapa designates spoils taken from the dead adversary.
The word ppoxo^ does not have a strong IE etymology. Hj. Frisk seems to accept S. Bugge’s proposal (Bugge 1870: 446-447) who connected ppoxo^ with the Sanskrit participle murta- (from the verb murchati). This parallel was later rejected by P. Chantraine for
2 The only exception occurs when peXava Ppoxov (Od. 24, 189) appears in the middle of a verse: the same collocation was later used by Quintus Smyrnaeus: Ppoxov aivov (Quint. Smyrn. 3, 552).
3 It should be noted, however, that the interpretation of SpaKrov Kapa PsPpoxropevoi; as ‘snake eating its own head’ proposed by N. Kazansky (Kazansky 1985: 235-236) is more appropriate to Qytemnestra’s dream before Orestes arrives to kill her.
phonetic reasons: a long vowel sonant must be restored for Sanskrit, and a short for Proto-Greek (Chantraine 19б8: s.v. ррбтос;). M. Leumann, on the other hand, saw in ррбтос; a reinterpretation of рротбс; the ‘immortal (blood of deities)’ (Leumann 1950: 124); P. Chantraine characterized this hypothesis as “brilliant but doubtful” (Chantraine 19б8: ibid.).
It seems clear that ррбтос;, рротбеїс;, рерротюреуос; were not clearly understood in antiquity. There are many ancient interpretations of which the two most interesting are: (1) Pp6tov = tov sk той аїрато<; poXuapov (Eustath. 6SS, 53) and (2) ррбтос аїра (Hsch. p S27) and рротбс o^ut6v®< pev аvBрюпоv, пaро^uтбvюс; Se anpaivei sk той 9ovou MBpov (Hsch. p 1203).
Hesychius’ definitions show that the word ррбтос; besides the meaning ‘blood’ could also be used to designate ‘ichor’ and ‘pus’ and ‘sluch’. This permits us to reject M. Leumann’s interpretation of ррбтос; аipатбeц as a pleonastic expression (‘bloody blood’ -Leumann 1950: 124), and to understand it as ‘bloody filth’.
This specific meaning of ррбтос; (Stephanus 182б: s. v.) finds support in the synonym used in Hesychius’ gloss, ррбтос; Se anpaivei t6v sk фбvоu MBpov (Hesych. p 1203), as ЯйBроv is a clear derivative from the verb Яойю ‘wash (the body)’. It is significant that in the Homeric text the formula Pp6tov аipатбevта is always preceded by a verb signifying ‘to wash body or hands and feet’: vi^Tei; апо (Il. 7, 425), Яо’иа’п апо (Il. 154,7), Яо'UGeшv апо (Il. 18, 345) and ЯойаааВаї апо (Il. 23, 41; cf. dпоv^yаvтeс; pe^ava Pp6tov in Od. 24, 189).
Once a more specific meaning is accepted for the word ррбтос;, a revision of the etymological possibilities is called for. In many Indo-European languages the nouns with meaning similar to that of ррбтос; are often derived from verbs signifying ‘to ooze out, exude, trickle, flow slowly’. For example Russian сок (cf. the expression соки животные used to denote liquors found in living beings, such as blood, lymph, etc.) and пасока ‘ichor, blood’ (see Dal’ 1882, s. v.) are derived from the verb сочиться ‘ooze out, exude’; Ukrainian and Belorussian ропа, as well as Polish ropa ‘pus, mineral pitch’, derive from the verb ropic sie ‘ooze out, discharge pus’ (Preobrazhensky 1959, s. v.). Similar semantic development is observed in the Germanic word for ‘blood’ (English Blood, German Blut, etc.) which belongs to the IE root *bhel- ‘flood, ooze (out)’ (Drosdowski, Grebe et al. 19б3 [Duden etymology], s. v. Blut).
It is important for our study to note that words designating stagnant or slowly flowing water are often derived from verbs with the same meaning. For exemple:
1) Xevpa ‘stream’, npoxevpaxa ‘silt, deposit’, npo%o^ ‘outpouring, mouth of a river’ derives from the Greek verb Xeopai ‘pour out, let flow’.
2) The Lithuanian dialect word lasmuo and las-men-ys denoting ‘the place on a lake where a stream starts or ends’, as well as Las-muo, name of river and of marsh (Urbutis 1981: 187-189), are derived from lith. laseti ‘let flow, shed‘.
3) The Greek verb Яе(рю ‘let flow, shed’ gave birth to the following nouns: Xeipnxpov4, Xoip^ ‘pouring‘, Xipa<; ‘stream‘ (in tragedy), ‘standing water‘ (Babrius), in plural ‘pools of water that collect after rain’, also used of marshes (Strabo, Theophrastus).
This pattern of semantic development common to different IE languages suggests the etymological connection between the Homeric ppoxo^ to the well-known PIE root *mor-. The grade -o- of this root is represented in many Indo-European languages and denotes a large or small body of standing water (Krahe 1964): Common Germanic *mari (OE mere ’see, lake, pound’, ON marr ‘sea’, OHG mari ‘sea ’, MHG mare ‘lake’), Latin mare (*mor-i- > *mar-i- after m, u, l in open syllable [Smoczinsky 2007, s. v. marios]) ‘sea, sea water’, Slavonic *morie (Russian море, Polish morze), Baltic marios (Buga 1959), names of rivers Mara, Mera, Maria, Latvian Maras-upe, Marina, and names of the marshes: Lithuanian Marele, Mares (Vanagas 1981, s. v. Mara, Mera). Words from this root denoting the marshy plots of land are represented in many languages, e. g., OE mersc, merisc (< *marisca-) ‘marsh, swamp, mud’ (Watkins 1975); significant is also the meaning ‘deep stagnant water’ of the Osetian word mal (Smoczynsky 2007, s. v. marios).
Greek ppoxo^ represents the zero grade of the same root *mer-: *mor-: *mr-. The development of the beginning *mr- to вр- is very well known (see Lejeune 1972: 274, 197 on Greek ppoxo^ and Sanskrit mrta-). The reflex of the IE vowel sonant *r > po is perhaps Aeolic. There are also the reflexes of the grade -e- of the same root in Lithuanian hydronims Mera, Meria and Meraitis. In the Slavonic dialects of East Polesje the word мерва is found with the meaning of
4 XeiPnTpov/ psTGpov, oxetov, Kpowov Kai тбло^ £v MaKeSovia (Hsch. X 512).
‘marsh’ (Tolstoy 1969: 181). We would to suggest that the same -e-grade of the root must be reconstructed for verb meaning ‘ooze out, exude, trickle, flow slowly’, although the simple root *mer- is absent from all Indo-European traditions, and we can find it only in its extended form *mer-g(h)- / *mer-k(h): Greek pps%® < *mregho ‘wet, step in water’, Latin mergo and Lithuanian mer-k-ti have the same meaning (Kazanskiene 1984: 16-18)5.
The suffix *-to- in ppoxo^ carries not a passive, but an active meaning, which is often the case in nouns derived from intransitive verbs: e. g., axaZ® ‘shed drop by drop’ and axaKxo^ ‘oozing out in drops’, pe® ‘flow’ and puxo^ ‘flowing’. We may conclude that in Greek ppoxo^ has the same meaning as common Germanic word for ‘blood’, derived from *bhel- ‘to flood’. The conjunction of the zero grade of the root with the suffix *-to- is not uncommon (Chantraine 1933: 304), but the accent in this type of noun and adjective would be expected to fall on the last syllable. In this case the barytonesis, as well as the rendering of as -po-, seem to be a trace of Aeolic (Bechtel 1921: 8), probably preserved in Homeric diction in order to distinguish ppoxo^ from ppoxo^.
The semantic development of the meaning ‘ooze out, exude, trickle, flow slowly’ to ‘(standing) water’ and ‘to discharge (from the human body)’ may be shown by many examples in distinct Indo-European traditions. Apart from the examples already quoted above, this development may be illustrated by the following cases.
Lithuanian al-e-ti (and with extenders al-m-eti, al-v-eti, el-m-eti ‘exude, trickle, flow slowly’ and their derivative nouns such as alme, alme, elmes (fem. pl.),‘ichor, pus’, al-muo, al-mens ‘the same‘, almetas ‘containing alme, liquor from the wound’ (LKZ 1968, s. v., Buga: I, 310; III, 413-414) and hydronymics, names of the rivers Alme, Elme, Almaja, names of the laces Elmis, Almajas (see Vanagas 1981, s. v. Alme), Prussian names of the rivers Elm, Elme, Elmone, Ylme, Ilmune, Ilmena, Thracian river names Almus, Almo (Toporov 1979: 24-25). E. Fraenkel adds to this root also Lithuanian al-k-sna ‘puddle, marsh’, and Latvian al-u-k-sna ‘marshlike places’, Norvegian ulka, 0lke ‘dirt (grime), mould on the liquid’ and the verb ulka ‘to suppurate’ (Fraenkel 1962: 7-8). A very similar semantic development is present in the words that were compared by A. Fick
5 The fact that the reconstructed root *mer- and the extended forms
*mer-g(h)- / *mer-k(h) is best illustrated by the semantics of the following derivatives: Ppayo<^ sXo<; (Hsch. P 1027); Ppaxea and Ppaxn (‘shallow waters’), id Ppsxevxa rcsSia (‘inundated valleys’), etc.
and K. Brugmann6: Gr. axa^® ‘to drop’, axay®v (fem.) ‘drop’, axaypa (neut.) ‘a drop, liquid’, axayexo^ (masc.) ‘drop’, eni-, Kaxa-axaypo^ (masc.) ‘running at the nose’, axd^i<; (fem.) ‘dropping’, hydronym ExaZouaa (a spring in Sicyon - Paus. 2, 7, 4), Latin stagnum (neut.) ‘a piece of standing water, a pool’, cf. Ovid’s designation of the Hellespont, Phrixeae stagna sororis (Ov. Fast. 4, 278), and its derivative stagnosus ‘covered by water, full of the standing waters, or pools’; etc. Apparently Celtic forms such as Old Bret. staer ‘river, creek’ < *stag-ra (Walde 1938, s. v.) also refer to the same root.
This semantic development involving the activities of the human body and activities of the earth may perhaps reflect the ancient mentality, animistic in its origin7, but alive and in use as a metaphor in Classical and later Greek: thus, Aeschylus uses KpoKopa^^^ axay®v as periphrasis of blood (Aesch. Ag. 1121-1122), whereas Marcus Aurelius has ^ xov Koapou axay®v to denote the sea (Marc. Aur. 6, 36, 1).
Since the postulated root *mer- ‘to ooze out, exude, trickle, flow slowly’ coincides with the root *mer- ‘to die’, it is worthwhile to try to reconstruct the prehistoric semantic relationship that lies behind this formal coincidence. I do not believe that it is a case of homonymy, because the same semantic family is alive in Classical Greek: for example, Xvpa, usually used in plural Xvpaxa, derived from Xov® ‘wash, wash the body’ or Xo'ueaBai ‘bathe’, means at the same time ‘water used by washing’, ‘dirt removed by washing’ and ‘ruin’. Similarly, in Sanskrit mardh- means both ‘wet’ and ‘kill’. More interesting for this coincidence of meaning are, of course, the Indo-European beliefs connected with the dead, and in particular, the idea of the ‘lifeless water’ that demarcates the world of the living from that of the dead. P. Thieme has also emphasized the exceptional role that the oath by the waters of the underworld rivers plays both in Homer and in the Vedic tradition (Thieme 1952: 52-54): the person who swears this oath must be prepared to suffer death in case of perjury. One final, but remarkable, detail should be noted: in the Greek mind all rivers in Hades have turbid and dull waters, are
6 Later, however, this comparison was unduly rejected on grounds of the semantic disparity between these the words (Frisk 1954: 775).
7 The same semantic reinterpretation may be present in the noun ovpavo^ ‘sky’ used in later texts (starting from Aristotle) in the anatomic sense, ‘palate’.
marshy, thus combining all the characteristics of the water denoted by the root *mer- / *mor- / *mr-.
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V. P. Kazanskiene. A Tie between the Micro- and Macrocosmos:
On the Etymology of Homeric Ppoxo<;
Analysis of the four occurrences of the Homeric formula XotiaaaGai (Xo'oa'n, XovoEiav, viZovte^) ano Ppoxov aipaxoEvxa in the Iliad (Il. 7, 425; 14, 7; 18, 345; 23, 41) shows that it is used only in passages concerned with death on the battlefield. The word Ppoxo<; does not have a strong IE etymology, and the translation of the expression of Ppoxov aipaxoEvxa as ‘clotted blood’ does not render adequately the sense of the noun. The paper argues that Ppoxo<; is connected with the PIE root *mer- used to designate slowly flowing or stagnant waters (or fluids). The semantic development from ‘stagnant waters or fluids’ to ‘blood oozing from the wound, gore’ is explained through the metaphoric association between nature and the human body (a similar isosemantic model is to be found in Baltic, Slavic and German languages). It is suggested that the reconstructed root *mer- is a cognate, not a homonym, of the well known PIE root *mer- ‘to die’.
Key words: Ppoxov aipaxoEvxa, Homer, etymology, isosemantic models, excretions of the human body, stagnant waters in Proto-Indo-European.
