Mycenaean Onomastics, Poetic Phraseology

and Indo-European Comparison:

The Mans Name pu
2
-ke-qi-ri*
JOS L. GARCA RAMN
Universitt zu Kln
Summary
1. Interpreting Mycenaean proper names: perfect correspondences and synonymy.
A. Compounded Personal Names and Phraseology.
2. Mycenaean names with perfect correspondences in Alphabetic Greek. 3.
Mycenaean names in the light of synonymous names, compounds and collocations
attested in Alphabetic Greek.
B. The Myc. MN pu
2
-ke-qi-ri /P
h
ugeg
w
r(n)s/ who escapes/d the HEAVY spear or
HEAVY evil, misfortune or the HEAVY enemy or the stone (*the HEAVY one).
4. The MN pu
2
-ke-qi-ri /P
h
ugeg
w
rns/ (PY, TH). 5. Myc. /p
h
uge/ reects the
aorist escaped and Hom.

. 6. Myc. /g
w
rn-/, Alph. Gk. , as
synonym of , , and ; overview of the different forms belonging to
this semantic eld. 7. The IE background and the morphology of /g
w
rn-/. 8.
Myc. pu
2
-ke- qi-ri /P
h
uge-g
w
rn-/ [ESCAPE (: ) HEAVY (, cf. , ,
)], where [HEAVY] is a transferred epithet. 9. The Homeric evidence suggests
that HEAVY is the designation for [spear], for [evil, misfortune] or for [enemy], which
* The present article was written as part of the research project La segunda edicin del
Diccionario Micnico como fuente de estudio lexicolgico de la civilizacin micnica
(CAICYT, HUM 2007-64475). The nal version has beneted from remarks by Alan J.
Nussbaum (Cornell) after the oral exposition, and by Stephanie Jamison (UCLA), Jos Luis
Melena (Vitoria), Ana Vegas Sansalvador (Kln) and Calvert Watkins (UCLA). Francisco
Aura Jorro (Alicante) has kindly placed the latest version of his forthcoming Mycenaean
indices (direct and reverse) at my disposal. It is my pleasant duty to express my gratitude to
all of them. Final responsibility remains my own. Homeric translations basically follow
those of Richmond Lattimore.
Abbreviations: KN: Cnossos; PY: Pylos; MY: Mycenae; TH: Thebes.
MN: mans name; WN: womans name; GN: god name; PN: place name.
Citations follow current conventions, especially those of the X. Mycenaean Colloquium
(Salzburg 1995: Floreant Studia Mycenaea, Wien 1999). For Mycenaean forms, reference is
made to Fr. Aura Jorro, Diccionario Griego-Micnico, Madrid 1985, 1993; for Alphabetic
Greek names, Fr. Bechtel, Die historischen Personennamen des Griechischen bis zur
Kaiserzeit, Halle 1917 (HPNG) and especially the Lexicon of Greek Personal Names (LGPN:
I, III.1 and III.2 ed. by P.M. Fraser - E. Matthews, II ed. by M.J. Osborne - S.G. Byrne).
Jos L. Garca Ramn
2
may have been selected as transferred epithet. 10. Possible objections. 11. Two
possible transferred epithets as theonyms in Mycenaean theophorics: a-wi-to-do-to
/Awisto-dotos/ Given by the invisible (deity), i-su-ku-wo-do-to /Isk
h
uo-dotos/ Given
by the powerful (deity). 12. The distributional patterns of [stone] in Homer support
the interpretation of /g
w
rn-/ as an inherited term for stone, rock (cf. Alb. gur). 13.
Conclusion.
1. The interpretation of Mycenaean proper names (both simplicia and com-
pounded) encounters difculties depending on the recognisability of the lexemes
they are based on. Moreover, the deciencies of Linear B make things even
more difcult.
In the case of compounds, the problem obviously lies in identifying their rst
and second members, and interpreting their internal syntax as far as this can be
established. This is not always easy, even for the onomastics of rst millennium
Greek, as many compounded names do not have the structure of current com-
pounds and simply consist of two lexemes that make no sense and defy any
attempt at interpretation in terms of logic. The same applies for Mycenaean. The
ideal case is when both members of the compound can be recognised as reect-
ing a nominal or verbal phrase, poetic or not, which is actually attested in Alpha-
betic Greek and/or in other IE language(s): a sampling of such cases is presented
in 2. The situation is more complicated when the lexeme or lexemes underlying
the compounded name do not match lexemes or collocations attested in rst
millennium Greek: in this case we have to operate with synonyms, which may
either be inherited or may have been created within Greek as substitutive
continuants (Ersatzkontinuante) of inherited terms (3).
In the case of Myceanean names consisting of (or built on) a noun or an
adjective that does not match any form directly attested in Alphabetic Greek, the
only way to provide an interpretation is to operate with synonymous and/or
semantic parallels.
1
In other words, an interpretation must be supported by the
1
In the case of short names, taking into account word formation, namely the subsystem of
onomastic sufxes, may also be of help. A nice instance is the MN da-te-wa (Garca Ramn
20012002a:436ff.). There is a set of specic onomastic sufxes, which are for the most
part attested also in Linear B, namely - , -, -, -, -[], -[] (Myc. /--/, /-u-/,
/-w-/, /-i-/, /-[i]o-/, /-[i]on-/), also -, fem. -, as seen e.g. in - (- ), -
, -, -, -, - or in -, -, -, -
, -, fem. - (short forms of -). On the other hand, the
pairs - : - (Myc. /-us/ : /-ws/) are well attested, cf.

(Myc.
/Woinws/), () : , - (Myc. /P
h
ulws/), Myc. ta-re-u /T
h
alus/ (PY) :
, - . On the strength of this statement, the existence of Alph. Gk. - (or
), -, - allows for the interpretation of da-te-wa as /Daitws/
Mycenaean Onomastics, Poetic Phraseology and Indo-European Comparison
3
existence of synonymous names (or appellatives), or by the evidence of other
names belonging to the same word family as the proposed name. This can be
illustrated by Myc. te-u-to and o-ki-ro. The MN te-u-to may conceal
calamar, as proposed by Olivier Masson (1972):
2
there is no attestation of such
a name in rst millennium Greek, but the existence of names like
cuttlesh vel sim. shows that ichthonyms are in fact a naming motif, and this
makes the interpretation of te-u-to as /T
h
eut
h
os/ highly probable. The same
applies to o-ki-ro, which matches the bird name

wren, as shown by P.
H. Ilievski.
3
Even if

were not attested, the existence of a MN ,

reecting another bird name , strongly supports the interpretation of
o-ki-ro (and o-ki-ra) as /Ork
h
il(l)os/, /Ork
h
il(l)s/, as I have tried to show
elsewhere.
4
As to the religious and geographic names, the situation is basically the same.
If the Mycenaean name does not match a form attested in the rst millenium, it
is only semantic parallels and identity (or close similarity) of character and func-
tion on the basis of lexical correspondences that can provide signicant support
for the interpretation. The validity of this principle is proved by cases in which
the Mycenaean form may be recognisable, but the meaning (and eventually the
etymology) may be elucidated only in the light of comparison with other forms
or names, whether Greek or not, that have the same meaning or refer to the same
entities. This is the case with the PN e-u-de-we-ro and the GN e-ra, which are
easily identiable with Hom.

(quoted by Strabo 9.2.41 as the old

name of Aspledon in Boeotia)
5
and with .
The meaning of Myc. e-u-de-we-ro /E
h
u-dewelo-/ having nice afternoons
(whence nice in the afternoons / sunsets) is conrmed by the Cyrenaean place
name

), as I have tried to show elsewhere.

6
(and makes a MN */Daitus/ perfectly conceivable) as a short form of Myc. e-u-da-i-ta
/E
(h)
u-daits/ or of .
2
Other interpretations, such as Illyrian /Teutos/, or /Steutr/ (Meier-Brgger 1992), are less
likely.
3
Ilievski 1992, Garca Ramn 20012002a.
4
Garca Ramn 20012002a:431ff.
5
Probably also attested as a place name in Phocis in a treaty (3rd C.) between Phanoteon and
Stiris (Rousset-Katzouros 1992).
6
Garca Ramn 19981999. The Proto-Greek form is *e
h
u-de

uelo- (*h
1
esu, de

uh
1
-elo-, not
de

us-elo- pace Schulze 1892:244f., 248), whence Myc. /E

h
u-dewelo-/, whereas <> in
Hom.

- (instead of
+

-) reects a metrical lengthening. Att. is the

phonetic outcome of PGk. *de

uel

.
Jos L. Garca Ramn
4
For its part, the name of Hera has been explained satisfactorily as an indi-
vidualisation of the ourishing period of time or of life, with reference to Gk.
spring:
7
this points to PGk. *H

r-, cf. IE *H

ro-: OE gear year.

8
The
name of Heras Latin counterpart offers, in my opinion, a clear semantic parallel
that has not been paid the attention it deserves:
9
In (*h
2

u-h
3
on-, an
-on-formation to *in-, cf. Lat. in-x young woman to masc. iuuen, as shown
by Helmut Rix)
10
may be understood as having youth (= vital force).
On the strength of this theoretical framework, the present contribution will
propose an interpretation of the obscure mans name pu
2
-ke-qi-ri (Pylos,
Thebes).
A. Compounded Personal Names and Phraseology
2. An ideal case for the identication of a Mycenaean compounded name is
when it perfectly matches a compound or a collocation of rst millenium Greek,
i.e. when the lexemes of both members are identical. The correspondence may
also be partial, namely when one or both of the members are expressed by
synonyms in Alphabetic Greek (3).
Let us recall several instances of Mycenaean compounded personal names
(presented conventionally in alphabetical order) that have perfect correspon-
dences in Alphabetic Greek. The sample that follows is drawn from the material
for a book on Mycenaean personal names that is intended to be for Mycenaean
what Friedrich Bechtels Historische Personennamen des Griechischen (1917)
is for rst millennium Greek:
11
1. MN a-ke-ra-wo (KN) /Age-lwo-/ (: Hom.+, ), cf. Il.
2.580 #, 10.79 # ` . A rst member /
h
ge/ is not excluded:
the second member of the MN may be both ags or
h
gs. An alterna-
tive interpretation as /Ark
h
e-lwo-/ (: ) may not be ruled out, cf.

[Aesch.+], . In fact, *

/ , * /
would be unmetrical.
2. MN a-ko-ro-da-mo (TH, KN) matches perfectly (Tenos, 2nd
7
Schrder 1956:57ff., 67 and Ptscher 1961:302 (die zur Ehe reife Frau).
8
From *Hh
1
-ro- period of time, whence CLuv. ra/i- time (Morpurgo Davies 1987:218f.
n. 31).
9
Garca Ramn 2001:115. The term hero ( ) ts perfectly into this pattern as the
masculine personication of the ourishing time of life (or who is in his ourishing age,
if one understands -

u- formations as hypostases of locatival forms in -e

u-, as per Widmer

2008:623ff.).
10
Rix 1981:107ff. (= Kl. Schr., 275ff.).
11
Cf. the updates in Garca Ramn 20012002b, 2005c.
Mycenaean Onomastics, Poetic Phraseology and Indo-European Comparison
5
C.),
12
a determinative compound that reects the individualisation of [`
] or [` ] the highest dmos (: community) or the
highest of the dmos.
13
It is parallel to other compounds with

at the
topmost, highest of the type

citadel (Hom.+, cf.

Il.
6.88) to designate ` either stricto sensu (cf. Od. 3.278
the promontory of Athens) or metaphorically (cf.
Pelasgians, glory of Argos, Theocr. 15.42). In fact
reects the poetic metaphor of the propugnaculum ciuitatis as it
has been convincingly set out by O. Longo
14
on the basis of Alc. fr. 112.10 Voigt
`

for men are the Arean tower of the town,

(

of Ares, as war god, also as protector during war). The conception

that men are the highest tower for the defense of the city is clearly reected in Il.
15.735ff.

, /

; /

,
/

() ... ((Hektor speaks to the Danaoi) Do we think there

are others who stand behind us to help us? Have we some stronger / Arean wall
that can ward off perdition of men? There is for us no city fenced with walls,
within which we could defend ourselves). The metaphor is clearly recognisable
in C.Theogn. 233

` (an excellent
man), being citadel and tower against the stupid crowd.
3. MN a-no-me-de (PY) /Anormds/ or /Anrmds/ (: -,
, cf. Il. 2.340

).
4. MN a-pi-da-ta (KN) /Amp
h
idaits/, cf. Eur. fr. 147.1

` `
.
15
12
The formal match a-ko-ro-da-mo : renders other possibilities unnecessary.
Myc. a-ko-ro-da-mo and a-ko-da-mo (TH), the latter probably designating another person,
have been much debated, and have received interpretations that range from the absurd (a
title /agoro-dmos/ rassembleur du damos, as per Aravantinos-Godart-Sacconi 2001:170f.)
to the reasonable, but which are not supported by the facts (/Argro/ [Ruijgh 2003:224] and
/Argo/, dissimilated from */Argro/, cf. Garca Ramn 2006:46ff.). On the assumption that
a-ko-ro-da-mo and a-ko-da-mo are two different persons, a-ko-da-mo may be /Ark
h
o-dmos/
(: Alph. Gk. , Hom.

) as a formal variant of - and/or as a

reex of [

` ], cf. - and - (cf. ).

Compounds of this type are attested also in Mycenaean, cf. e.g. pi-ro-wo-na /P
h
ilo-woins/,
WN /P
h
ilo-woin/ (variant of *-
F
:

-), pi-ro-pa-ta-ra /P
h
ilo-patr/ (cf.
).
13
The structure is essentially the same as that of the MN (also ,
), or (: , ).
14
Longo 1974.
15
Garca Ramn 20012002a:437.
Jos L. Garca Ramn
6
5. MN da-i-qo-ta (KN) /D(
h
)i-k
wh
onts/ (: , ) killing
in the ght. The same collocation underlies the mediopassive counterpart -
(Il. 21.146

= 21.301), with
synonymous .
6. MN e-ti-ra-wo (PY) /Ertilwi/ (dat.) is surely connected with (and con-
tinued by) , , and , . A variant
of the compound with inversion of its members is .
16
The underlying
collocation is well attested in Homer, cf. Il. 19.139

` `
.
7. MN e-u-da-i-ta (KN) /E
(h)
udaits/ (cf.

), cf. Il. 1.368 ` `

`

.
17
8. MN e-u-me-de (PY) /E
(h)
umds/

, cf. Il. 2.360

... and Od. 11.445 ` `

.
9. MN ka-sa-no (KN) /Kassnr/ is attested in the rst millenium in the
thematic variant and fem. , . The rst
member of the compound *kasti (*

nd-ti) is exce (cf. Ved.

ad-
id.), /anr/ : reects the dative-locative of the people among whom
the name-bearer excels, cf. Od. 4.725

excellent in all qualities among the Danaans.
18
The collocation is
also expressed by means of names with () (*prep-o/e- : Arm. erewi
), cf. -, -, cf. Il. 2.483

, 18.194 ,
.
10. MN ke-sa-do-ro (PY, KN) /Kessandros/, WN ke-sa-da-ra (PY)
/Kessandr/ seem to match the anomalous <> (3x in Corinthian
vases). The compound goes back to *

kens-ti-andro- who speaks authoritatively

to men, which matches Ved.
.
ms nry- [1x RV I 185.9a], YAv. naiirii.
saha-, also Ved. nar
.
m
.
msa-, nar
.
msa- (epithet of Agni and of Pan).
The rst member of the compound is IE *

kens-, Lat. cnset (pres. *

ns-e-ti),
Ved.
.
msati : OAv. sghait, YAv. sahaiti (Pres. *

kns-e-ti), with derivative

Ved. ast- praise : OAv. sasti- (*

ns-ti-). The Mycenaean name is continued

by

- (Alcm. Parth. 1.73), the name of the leader of Laconian

young women. The substitution of PGK. *kens- by

is evident also in
16
Mhlestein 1968:113. On the basis of the correspondence /Erti/ : , , the MN
e-ti-me-de-i (PY) /Erti-mde
h
i/ may reect the collocation [ ], which is
attested with synonymous in Od. 1. 347

.
17
Garca Ramn 20012002a:437.
18
Garca Ramn 1992. Fem. is obviously a mere motion form.
Mycenaean Onomastics, Poetic Phraseology and Indo-European Comparison
7
ke-ti-ro /Ke(n)sti-los/ (PY, KN), short form for /Ke(n)sti-lwos/

-
,

, ()

, as I have tried to show elsewhere.

19
11. MN mo-ro-qo-ro (PY) dat. /Molog
w
ri/, gen. mo-ro-qo-ro-jo matches
(the name of a Laconian). The name reects an insulting form ad-
dressed to Odysseus, disguised as a beggar (Od. 17.219, 18.26). The compound
means devourer of dung, as shown by Gnter Neumann:
20
both the rst and
second members of the compound do not match any form attested in Alphabetic
Greek, but both are recognisable from an etymological point of view: *
(cf. black) is related to Skt. mla- dirt, is a nomen agentis to
devour (Lat. uorre).
12. MN (dat.) na-ne-mo /Nnemi/ (TH) matches windless
21

(Hom.+, of

air Il. 8.556, cf. also ... windless weather

Od. 5. 392, 12.169; Aesch. Ag. 740), (Hipp.).
22
The epithet has been
used for persons metaphorically since Classical times (Eur. Hec. 533
).
23
13. MN ne-ti-ja-no (KN, PY, TH) /Nestinr/, dat. ne-ti-ja-no-re (PY). The
name may be interpreted as who saves his men (: ) on the assumption
that its rst member is IE *nes- arrive where one will (Ved. nsate meets
gladly, Goth. ga-nisan ), with causative *nos-o/e- cause to reach
(home), whence save (Goth. nasjan , OE nerian). The Mycenaean
form has a purely formal continuant in the Thessalian MN
24

19
Garca Ramn 1992, 2005a:131ff. The term

decree (inscriptions) matches the

meaning of Ved.
.
msa- authoritative opinion, praise.
20
Neumann 1992.
21
Garca Ramn 2006:42. Gk. (*

n-h
2
nh
1
-mo-, cf. IE *h
2
enh
1
- wehen, Ved. niti)
was recharacterised as

+ (Soph. OC. 677, Eur. Hel. 1456),

(Str.
7.3.18), like PGk. np
h
eles- unprotable (*

n-h
3
b
h
el-es-), Myc. no-pe-re-a
2
/np
h
ele
h
a/ out
of service (of chariots) was to

+ (Class.). The old term was correctly understood,

cf. Hsch.

. . . . . ` *

. A priestess of the winds is also attested in Mycenaean (cf. a-ne-mo(-)i-je-re-ja KN

Fp 1.10, 13.3).
22
Poetic epithets that do not primarily designate persons may be used as personal names, e.g.
(: unutterable (of

air,

stream in Homer)),
(:

beyond the reach of envy (of

praise in Pindar)), Hom.+

(: numberless, of

Hes. Op. 511), cf. Garca Ramn 2005b:23.

23
Other compounds with are well attested in onomastics:

(also a by-name
of Zeus in Sparta, cf. Paus. 3.13.8) :

(Soph., Eur.+), : Hom.

with feet like wind, of Iris.
24
As seen by Peters 1986:547 n 727. There is little doubt that Myc. /Nestinr/ and Alph. Gk.
stand in the same relation as Hom. and Myc. /Kassnr/,
Jos L. Garca Ramn
8
(Atrax, 3rd C.), with short form
25
(Larisa, 1st C.). The causative
function of the rst member /Nes/ was continued by Gk. , and is recog-
nisable in strictly synonymous - (and ), which is in turn
reected in Homer (cf. Od. 3.231 ). Cf. also, with instead
of , Il.17.149 ` .
26
14. MN o-ku-na-wo (KN) /kunwos/ (and short form o-ku-no /kunos/),
27

cf. Hom.

swift ships.
15. MN o-ti-na-wo (PY) /Ortinwos/ who powers the ship (as a rower). The
name reects a collocation *

- () / (), as attested indi-

rectly by Hom.

(:

)
28
in Od. 12.182-3 ..., `

... the swift ship did not fail to be

noticed by them (the Sirens) as it drew nearer. This collocation matches per-
fectly the Rig Vedic formula yarti n

vam, cf. II 42.1ab knikradaj janam

prabruv yarti v

cam aritva n

vam telling his race aloud with repeated

cries, he powers his voice (yarti : ), as a rower (rit : *

, P
) his ship (n

vam) (also IX 95.2ab), as I have tried to show elsewhere.

29

Thus, the Greek collocation *

- / () underlying o-ti-na-wo
turns out to be inherited in view of Ved. yarti n

vam. The inherited verb has

been replaced by

- /

in the collocation with (), cf. Od. 7.109

/ `

or 13.155-6

when all the people watch it (scil. the ship) ... as it

is powered closer, which shows a perfect parallel to

(cf. supra).
16. MN pe-ri-me-de (PY) /Perimds/ : -, cf. Hes. Th. 559 ...

.
17. MN qa-sa-ko () /K
w
s-ark
h
os/, as a compound of the type
. This name, of which the rst member is (*k

u[s])-),
synonymous with Ion.-Att. get, reects a collocation `

`
/ get the power / have the power (after having gotten
it), cf. Hdt. 6.34 `

` , Thuc. 7.66.2

...
. Myc. qa-sa-ko matches (= ).
30
.
25
The onomastic formation with - presupposes (cf. ,
also in Thessaly), cf. Garca Ramn 2007a:44f.
26
Garca Ramn 2005b:38ff.
27
Cf. Neumann 1994.
28
The type is also attested in Class. Gk.

- /

, which is the continuant of

/

-, cf. Thuc. 8.34

(scil. )
.
29
Garca Ramn 2002.
30
Garca Ramn 2000a: esp. 154ff., 158ff., 164. Cf. also the short form qa-ti-ja /K
w
(s)tis/
Mycenaean Onomastics, Poetic Phraseology and Indo-European Comparison
9
18. MN ta-ta-ke-u (PY) /Stt-ark
h
us/, with its highly productive -

u- sufx,
matches Alph. Gk. , and reects an underlying collocation

` /
() , cf. Thuc. 1.62.3 ...
, Hdt. 3.89.1 ... ` `

.
31
19. MN to-wa-no (KN) /T
h
ownr/, also dat. to-wa-no-re (PY) and short
form to-wa (: ), matches *`

, just as matches

(cf. Hdt. 3.81

) or matches

(cf.

Od. 23.589). The compound is not necessarily to

be understood as possessive (who has swift men), but simply as determinative,
reecting a nominal phrase.
32
3. In other cases, one (or both) of the members of a compound name do not
match a form attested in Alphabetic Greek, but the collocation they reect is
expressed by means of one (or two) synonyms. Some instances have already
been mentioned propos da-i-qo-ta and (2.5), ke-sa-do-ro,
ke-sa-da-ra and

et al. (2.10), ne-ti-ja-no and

(2.13) and and qa-sa-ko (2.17).
1. MN e-ka-no (PY) /
h
Ek
h
nr/ he who overcomes men. The rst member
e-k(e)- /(
h
)Ek
h
(e)-/ (: ), as in e-ke-me-de /(
h
)Ek
h
e-mds/ (PY, KN), reects
the old meaning of IE *se g
h
- overcome
33
(cf. Ved. sah overcome, Goth. sigis
victory). It matches Alph. Gk. (), (), e.g. ,
, . The Vedic collocation is actually attested in RV V
7.10cd ...

tri ssahyd dsyn i ssahyn n

rn ... might Atri overcome the
Dasyus, the impulses, the men,
34
as well as in nr-

h-, nr-hya- (also vr-

s

h- domination over men RV I 35.6b).

2. MN e-ri-ke-re-we /Eri-klews/ (KN): who has good [

] fame [].
The meliorative prex

is glossed as (Hsch.). The name is basically

equivalent to inherited (cf. Hom. : Ved. mhi rvas), as
well as to

- (Pind.) :

(: Ved. Su-rvas-).
(KN), which is parallel to Alph. Gk. .
31
Cf. Garca Ramn 2000a:173f.
32
Garca Ramn 2000b. Hom. is a conation of * and

, cf. Il.
22.458-9

, /

` ` , since
he never stayed back in the crowd of men, but would break far out in front.
33
Meier-Brgger 1976.
34
Garca Ramn 2005a:127, 2005b:37ff. The hapax i (RV V 7.10e) is understood as the
acc. pl. of i- Impuls, Erfrischung (suggestion of Stephanie Jamison). It is, in any case,
irrelevant whether i is the nominative of a name i- (and the subject of opt. ssahyt)
in c (mge Ia die (kargen) Herren bezwingen; Geldner, ad loc.).
Jos L. Garca Ramn
10
3. MN ne-e-ra-wo (PY) dat. /Ne
h
e-lwi/ (perhaps with short form )
may be understood as he who saves his people. The same collocation underlies
*- (short form ), also -, -, -
(short form - ), as well as -, cf. Il. 13.47 `
` .
4. MN ta-ti-qo-we-u (PY) may be interpreted both as /Tti-g
w
wus/ or as
/Stti-g
w
wus/. In the rst case, /Tti-g
w
wus/ should be der Rinder raubt.
35

In this interpretation, the name would reect the motif of stealing cattle (cf.
Soph.), which is attested in several IE languages, cf. YAv. gu ...
tii

t: the rst member is IE *(s)teh

2
- steal (Hitt. tizzi, OLat. (S)TATOD, Gk.
Pind.). However, ta-ti-qo-we-u may also conceal /Stti-g
w
wus/, as
the reex of a juncture * (he) let the cows stand (cf. Il. 5.755
), which nds support in cowshed (Aesch. Prom.
653; also Delos 4th C.), , ox-stall (Eur. Hel. 29,
359).
B. The Myc. MN pu
2
-ke-qi-ri /P
h
ugeg
w
r(n)s/ who escapes/d the HEAVY spear or
HEAVY evil, misfortune or the HEAVY enemy or the stone (*heavy thing)
4. The MN pu
2
-ke-qi-ri /P
h
ugeg
w
rns/ is attested in Pylos (PY Ta 711.1), as
the name of the ofcial who makes inspection of the vessels and furniture
recorded in the Ta-series. The existence of a homonymous ofcial in Thebes,
probably a collector, was clearly supported by the feminine adjective pu
2
-ke-qi-
ri-ne-ja /P
h
ugeg
w
rneiai/ TH Of 27.3 workers of (the workshop of) pu
2
-ke-qi-
ri,
36
and is now conrmed by the dative pu
2
-ke-qi-ri-ne /P
h
ugeg
w
rnei/ TH Gp
119.1 in the new Theban tablets from the Odos Didotou. The Theban forms
make clear that the second member of the compound is an -n- stem.
Myc. /P
h
uge-g
w
rn-/ is obviously a governing compound of the type -
, and the lexemes of which it consists are recognisable: /p
h
ug-e/ matches
Hom. , and /g
w
r(n)-/ is surely related to (Gloss.) and to the word
family of , , which is attested in Mycenaean in the MN qi-ri-ta-ko
(cf. 6). The structure of the compound /P
h
uge-g
w
rn-/ is clear, but its semantics
are not. A meaning qui fuit de la lourdeur as per Michel Lejeune is rather
difcult to understand; moreover, qui fuit is actually incompatible with the
aorist stem /- that /P
h
uge/ conceals. An interpretation as Einer, der den
Beschwernissen entkommt has recently been proposed by O. Panagl and S.
Deger-Jalkotzy, who, in the framework of a ne analysis of the status of both
35
Plath 1999:511ff.
36
With Killens (1983) appurtenance sufx /-ei-/.
Mycenaean Onomastics, Poetic Phraseology and Indo-European Comparison
11
/ P
h
ugeg
w
rns/ attestations, assume that the compound cannot be a Kriegername:
their interpretation is correct as to the rst member, but the abstract meaning
proposed for /g
w
rn-/ is less convincing, as I shall try to show.
37
The question still
remains open whether pu
2
-ke-qi-ri is an unworthy name, in terms of the rank of
the men who bear it. Although this possibility may not be ruled out a priori, the
fact is that Mycenaean ofcials do not have shaming (or, at least, not especially
honouring) names like mo-ro-qo-ro (: ) Devourer of dung (cf.
2.11), or ku-mo-no-so (having a) Nude-bottom (, ), in the
convincing interpretations of Gnter Neumann:
38
mo-ro-qo-ro (PY) and ku-mo-
no-so (KN) are actually shepherds, although the rst is also a ko-to-no-o-ko. In
what follows, an attempt will be made to interpret the compound /P
h
uge-g
w
rn-/
ex Graeco ipso in light of the morphology and semantics of its members, and
especially on the basis of the phraseological collocations one may set out for
both and for their synonyms; and the interpretation I shall propose ts well into
the pattern of a warrior-name.
5. The rst member Myc. /P
h
ug-e/ reects, in my opinion, the aorist
escaped, not the imperfect was eeing. The form of the compound
does not by itself denitively argue in favour of this interpretation, for the full
grade form (or ) is not attested in Classical Greek, with the excep-
tion of avoiding/shunning troubles (Cercid. fr. 6.8) and the MN
(Eretria).
39
It is only the verbal forms themselves that actually
allow us to recognise that in this momentative-telic lexeme (escape) there is an
aspectual opposition was eeing :: escaped :: is safe
(part. , o). This is evident in light of Od. 1.11-12
` ,

` , / ,

` then all the others, as many as ed sheer destruc-

tion, were at home now, having escaped () the ghting and the sea.
The durative imperfect was eeing is evident in Il. 22.158-9 `

` ,

/ a great man ed
(= was eeing), but a far better one pursued (= was pursuing) him rapidly.
40
37
Lejeune 1965:152f. n. 63; Deger-Jalkotzy 2008:194ff., with an excursus by O. Panagl (194:
Als Kriegername kann er aber in dieser Bedeutung nicht mehr lnger gelten).
38
Neumann 1992, 1999:202ff. The author quotes having a black bottom (cf.
-), and (,

, ), with reference to compounds with

.
39
Cf. also in late authors shunning water (Plb.), hulwort,
Teucrium Polium (Ps.-Diosc.).
40
Cf. also Il. 21.255-6

` ` / ,

and bending away to escape from the river he ed (= was eeing), but it
Jos L. Garca Ramn
12
A crucial point in favour of the interpretation of /P
h
ug-e/ as the reex of aor.
is the overlap between Hom. and aor.

in expressions for
escape, avoid, evade (not ee, which is durative):
Il. 13.436 `

so that he could neither run backward nor evade him (scil. Poseidon)
In fact,

is interpreted by the scholiasts and glossators as

and as

avoided / eluded (by bending away), with explicit indication

of the type of movement, cf.

. Hsch., or

Suda.
The semantic equivalence of and

, within their formulaic

elds, is evident with EVIL (, , ) as object, e.g.:
Od. 12.157

`
(either die,) or turn aside from death and escape destruction (cf. also
` Il. 17.714, Il. 18.117, Od. 18.155 et
sim.).
This collocation underlies the epithet place of refuge (Hdt.),
as shown by A. J. Nussbaum.
41
Il. 3.359-60

` ` `

.
straight ahead by the ank the spearhead shore through his tunic, yet he bent
away to one side and avoided black death (= Il. 7.253-4).
The segment

# after the trochaic caesura is for-

mulaic (Il. 11.360, 14.462).
Od. 9.61 ...

but the rest of us escaped death and doom
The collocation [ESCAPE - EVIL], which is richly attested with synonymous
terms, cf. e.g. (11.362) and ...

(Il. 20.302),
(Od. 23.238), is of great importance for the interpretation
of /P
h
ugeg
w
rn-/ (9.2).
To sum up: the Myc. MN /P
h
uge-g
w
rns/ designates its bearer as someone
who escaped ( :

) from something / someone, which / who is

/g
w
rn-/, the nature of which remains to be determined. This may only be done in
light of the semantics of this term and the collocations of its synonyms and
continuators in Alphabetic Greek, especially in epic language.
came streaming (= was streaming) after him with a huge noise.
41
Cf. Nussbaum 1986:63ff. (a pre-arranged position in which combatants may take refuge),
with argumentation against other views.
Mycenaean Onomastics, Poetic Phraseology and Indo-European Comparison
13
6. The second member of pu
2
-ke-qi-ri, namely /g
w
rn-/, is surely connected
with the gloss , transmitted as a synonym of , cf. Hes. apud Strab. 8.5.3
(fr. 329 M.-W.): , ` ` ` ` (also Eust.
1.455). A variant occurs in Herodian: ` , ` ,

, `

. Cf. also the

gloss (v.l. )

` , `

, `
(Hsch.).
The form , (IE *g

u
rh
2
-i-, with and without laryngeal metathesis,
respectively) is attested as an adjectival rst member of some compounds: (i)
loud-shouting (Hom. Il. 13.521), in
which the meaning of is clear in view of the synonymous -
(HHVen., Bacch.) and - heavy sounding (Pind. fr. 143.2
` ... ),
42
(ii) the MN (Il. 1.403 +, with second
member

imprecation), (iii) the gloss

Hsch. (second member related to acc.

help, kindness).
To , was formed a denominative , which has a double function,
namely stative be heavy/strong and causative make heavy/strong (
Hes. Th. 447 glossed as ). Both functions occur in Hes. Op. 5

`
` ,

` for easily makes strong (causative

*g

u
rih
2
-ah
2
-), and easily oppresses the one who is strong (*g

u
rih
2
-ah
2
-ont-, with
passive -nt- as in Hittite, as shown by C. Watkins).
43
The meaning of , heavy (only the neuter is attested, but an animate
form must have existed too, see infra) is clear, regardless of its etymology. We
can also assume, as a rst step, that /P
h
uge-g
w
rn-/ means who escapes some-
thing heavy or someone who is heavy. The term is certainly obsolete within
Greek, and has been replaced by the synonymous and , as well
as , all of which belong to the same root.
44
Another synonym, Hom.
42
Cf. also . The second member is attested in the Myc. MN a-pu-wa
/puws/ (TH) (der ber einen Gewalt-Ruf verfgt; as per Heubeck 1970:70ff.) and MN
na-pu-ti-jo (: privative *der (noch) nicht vornehmlich rufen kann, der Hilose;
as per Neumann 2006:135f.).
43
Watkins 1995:99f., with reference to OHitt. UL arma

hanzi ... arma

uante not get pregnant

... those pregnant ones (cf. arma

h-

hi
make pregnant).
44
An adjective is found as a gloss: . (Hsch.). Its authenticity
may be accepted in view of (), an epithet of Hecate and Persephone (Ap. Rhod.
3.861-2). The authenticity of (cf.

. `

Hsch.) is not fully assured. This may be a homerisches Wort created on the basis of the
spelled sequence HHom. 28.10 ...

/ `

`
,

` ` by reanalysis of

as

` (cf. de
Lamberterie 1990:541).
Jos L. Garca Ramn
14
- (with --, on which cf. 7), comes into consideration as well, irrespec-
tive of its being etymologically connected or not with .
45
Let us briey
recall the essentials of the form and semantics of these words.
heavy, also in compounds as , is a poetic equivalent of
,
46
cf. be heavy/weighed down
47
and the synonymous
(Il. 16.519, Hes. Th. 215). Further derivatives are weight (Eur.+),
heaviness (Il. 5.838-9 /

,
of the weight of Athena). The epithet is also attested in compounded
names and nicknames: Myc. qi-ri-ta-ko PY Cn 655.11 (with /G
w
rt
h
/),
48
Alph.
Gk.

, , , and compounded -.
heavy, cf. Hom. helmet (also in the dative),
... (Il. 19.381-2).
is attested in formulas, applied to (13x), to Achilles (Il.
19.408), Hektor (4x) and Ares (6x), as well as to (Od. 9.305-6); and
(Od. 9.240-1), cf. Od. 9. 305-6 `

,
push with the hands from the lofty gate the ponderous
boulder he had propped there. Cf. also the compounds

heavy-
handed, of violent Achilles (Il. 22.418) and of Herakles (Il. 5.403), and

with a mighty father, of Athena (Il. 5.747 = 8.391). The meaning

of the epithet is clearly the same as what one may assume for , , as is
explicitly shown by the gloss

.
To sum up: the second member /g
w
rn-/ of Myc. pu
2
-ke-qi-ri /P
h
uge-g
w
rn-/
does not express something vague (la lourdeur or the like), but something
concrete, which is , i.e. a synonym of (or , or ).
45
The difference in the length of the vowel -i-, and especially the initial

-, remains problematic.
It is possible that

belongs to the same lexical group, if it originally meant pression

sur (Perpillou 1987:197ff.) and if

- actually matches

. In any case this form is not

helpful for our purposes.
46
Cf. de Lamberterie 1990:539ff., 547 (: cest le substitut de dans un certain
style).
47
Also outweight, prevail of men (Il.

12.346, 17.512; Od. 6.159) and chariot-
pressing (HH 8.1 ... ).
48
Myc. qi-ri-ta-ko may conceal /G
w
rt
h
-ark
h
os/ of heavy power (Heubeck 1958:57), or /G
w
r-
stak
h
os/ la lourde lance (Pinault 1979:170 n. 19; he operates with a second member
*, cf. ear of corn). I prefer to understand qi-ri-ta-ko as /G
w
rt
h
-

kos/, a
derivative in /-

kos/ of */g
w
rt
h
u-/ heavy, of the type MN re-wa-ko (TH) /Leiw

ko-/
beardless (cf. smooth), (cf. sharp), (cf. snub-
nosed), for which cf. Garca Ramn 2005d:96, 2006:33.
Mycenaean Onomastics, Poetic Phraseology and Indo-European Comparison
15
7. The Greek forms dealt with in 6 may be traced back to the derivatives in
-i- and -u- that comparison allows us to reconstruct for IE *g

u
erh
2
-:
49
*g

u
rh
2
--, whence *g

u
rih
2
- (by laryngeal metathesis): Gk. , Ved. grm-
summer, hot season.
50
Specically Greek formations: (*g

u
rt
h
-: *g

u
rih
2
-
d
h
-), (*g

u
rih
2
-r- [g

u
ri
2
-] better than *g

u
rih
2
-er-), (*g

u
rmo-:
*g

u
rih
2
mo-), probably also - (from
*
g

u
ri(h
2
)mo by de Saussures effect,
or by loss of laryngeal in composition, type

-, or by analogy with
adjectives in -?).
*g

u
rh
2
-- heavy: Ved. gir- and Av. gairi- high, mountain, Alb. gur (pl.
gr), Arm. kar strengh, force, kari very,
51
korovk

strength (plural of *korov

strong).
*g

u
rh
2
-- heavy, whence *g

u
ruh
2
(by laryngeal metathesis): Lat. dial.
brtus, Latv. grts.
*g

u
rh
2
-- heavy: , Ved. gur-.
A formal difculty that remains is the structure of the second member
/g
w
rn-/. One may assume an -n- stem, namely -n-, which actually goes back to
the animate acc. g

u
rh
2
-m (from g

u
rh
2
-m) of *g

u
rh
2
-i- (neuter , animate
*), whence phonetically *g

u
rm and PGk. *g

u
rn- (Myc. /g
w
rn-/: *-),
which then becomes a new stem by reanalysis. The process is similar to that
which underlies Gk. + and the rare formations with sufx *-n- (from *-ih
2
)
of the type

- (

ray), - ( end of the yoke strap, barb

of an arrow),

- (

pang, throes of childbirth),

52
to which may be
added - heap, beach, sand-bank (PGk. *t
h
n-) and

- nose, reana-
lysed from IE *d
h
h
1
-ih
2
-m and *sr

u-ih
2
-m (IE *sre

u- ow).
53
8. We can assume at this point that the Mycenaean compound /P
h
uge-g
w
rn-/
(: escaped) conceals a collocation [ESCAPE - HEAVY], where ESCAPE is
expressed by /-, and HEAVY is an epithet designating a thing or person as
, i.e. as (or , or ):
[ESCAPE - HEAVY [thing / person]]
The choice of an adjective, and not of a noun, for the object of ESCAPE actually
implies the existence of a nominal phrase HEAVY - [thing / person], and the selec-
49
Cf. the detailed analysis by de Lamberterie 1982 and 1990:525ff. Cf. also Pinault
1979:166f.
50
I.e. die Zeit des starken Sommers as per Wackernagel 1934 (also Pinault 1979:167).
51
Originally an adjective. Cf. also Arm. karik distress (*g

u
rh
2
-ih
2
- ce qui accable, as per
de Lamberterie 1982:49f.).
52
Schindler 1975:64f. (

-: PGk. *dn-, reanalysed from IE *h

1
d

u-ih
2
-m).
53
Cf. Dubois 1987:233f.
Jos L. Garca Ramn
16
tion of the attribute, not the head of the nominal phrase. In other words, HEAVY
(Myc. /g
w
rn-/) may be understood as a transferred epithet by contiguity (in C.
Watkinss formulation), with deletion of the noun that was a priori the head of
the nominal phrase, as with Ved. prthiv

earth (*wide: IE *p

lth
2

uh
2
-) beside
Ved. k

m prthiv

m : OAv. zm ... pruum the wide earth, and the Celt. di-
vinity (cf. St. Brigit) *Brigant (*lofty: *b
h
r g
h

nt-h
2
-) beside Ved. brhat

...
u

s),
54
as well as Lat. terra earth (*dry: *ters--), Hitt. alp` cloud
(*white: *h
1
alb
h
-, cf. Lat. albus).
9. The question now arises: What (thing, or person) is referred to in poetry
as , , , i.e. as synonymous with ? Three candidates
come into consideration on the basis of the Homeric material, namely (1) spear,
(2) evil, and (3) enemy, whether man or god (Ares).
(1) The term for spear () is qualied as and as (the
latter in a formula, cf. infra). As to , cf. Il. 5.745-6:

` ,
` ,

she set her feet in the blazing chariot and took up a spear, heavy, huge, thick,
with which she beats down the battalions ...
55
It must be stressed that in this case / is the warriors own spear,
not that of the enemy, and that there is a clear formulaic boundary between both
words: this speaks strongly against a real formula. A rather different case is that
of #, a real formula at the end of the hexameter attested 15
times in Homer,
56
designating the spear of the enemy:
Il. 3.357 ` `

all the way through the glittering shield went the heavy spearhead
A crucial point may be stressed here: is also the object of

, the
synonym of ( 5):
Il. 13.184

but he (scil. Teukros) with his eyes straight on him avoided the bronze
spear
These passages allow us to recognise a nominal phrase (i.e.
HEAVY [spear]), the epithet of which may be selected for the verbal phrase [ESCAPE
- HEAVY], corresponding to the schema of the collocation proposed in 8,
namely
[ESCAPE - HEAVY spear].
54
On this Celtic material, see the paper by C. Watkins in the present volume.
55
Cf. also Il. 8.390; 16.141; 16.802; 19.388; Od. 1.99-100.
56
14x out of 15x in the Iliad, 1x out of 3x in the Odyssey.
Mycenaean Onomastics, Poetic Phraseology and Indo-European Comparison
17
As seen in Il. 13.184, this is the action of a ghting warrior, not that of a coward
who ees the spear and by extension the ght. This is actually possible from the
purely formal point of view, as shown by who ees the spear
(Aesch. Pers. 1025 `

, also Call. fr. 117),

57
but does
not apply for the Homeric instances quoted in 5.
58
(2) Designations of evil and misfortune (, ) occur in early
poetry in nominal phrases with the epithets and

, namely
(Hom.) # (not
+
#, which would be
unmetrical),

` (Aesch.):
Il. 10.71 `

`
that Zeus cast on us as we were born this burden of evil
just as when one casts a rock/stone ( ), cf. Il. 3.12

`
(12).
Aesch. Pers. 693

` `

` ...;
what is the new grievous, heavy evil for the Persians?
It is important to remember that evil is often the object of ,

(5), cf. (among others) (Il. 18.117), `

(Od. 12.157) with variants, (Od.
9.61), (Od. 23.238), and, with

(Il. 3.359), ...

(Il. 20.302).
The syntagms or

` (Aesch.) t into the

pattern of the nominal phrase HEAVY - [thing / person], namely HEAVY [evil]. The
epithet may be selected for the verbal phrase [ESCAPE - HEAVY], namely
[ESCAPE - HEAVY evil, misfortune].
57
I owe this indication to Jos Luis Melena. The pejorative sense of eeing the ght is also
attested in compounds with rst member , Hom. (Od. 14.212-13 ...

` for I was no contemptible man, not one

who ed from the ghting), shunning battle (Simon. fr. 19.1) and
(Plb.+). The same applies to poetic compounds with (), cf.

because of (our) innate aversion to husbands (Aesch. Supp. 8) and its late continuants
(Nonn. Dion. 2.98 et al.), (Antipator Anth. Pal. 6.10, of Pallas
Athena), . Cf. also the Aeschylean compound (Aesch. fr. 451c9),
glossed as ` `

` (Hsch.).
In late authors are attested shunning the sun (Nic. Ther. 660), eeing
the city, banished (Opp. Hal. 1.278).
58
In other cases simply denotes aversion or reluctance, cf.
shunning strangers = inhospitable (Pind. Ol. 11.18), shirk a trial (Dem.
40.16), aversion to work (Plb.+).
Jos L. Garca Ramn
18
(3) The enemy (Achilles, Hektor) and war itself (Ares) are designated in
Homer as . Achilles (Il. 19.408 ) is also referred to as

heavy-handed (Il. 22.418), like Heracles (Il. 5.403), but he is not

par excellence and he does not in fact appear with this word in a
formula. In contrast, both Hektor and Ares appear in the formulas
# (4x: Il. 8.473, 10.200, 11.347, 14.44) and # (Il.
5.845, 16.613 = 13.444 et al.), also in Il. 13.521 redundantly after :
Il. 11.347 `
here is this curse, Hektor the huge, wheeling down upon us
Il. 13.521

but Ares the huge and bellowing had yet heard nothing
The formulas #, # suggest a verbal
phrase [ESCAPE - HEAVY], where HEAVY may be a transferred epithet for an enemy
or for Ares, i.e.
[ESCAPE - HEAVY enemy, Ares],
although there are no attestations of verbal phrases with Hektor or Ares (and the
like) that could be adduced in support of the possibility that this is the collocation
underlying Myc. /P
h
uge-g
w
rn-/.
To sum up: Myc. /P
h
uge-g
w
rn-/ reects a verb phrase, namely a two-member
collocation consisting of a verb ESCAPE and a transferred epithet HEAVY. The
transferred epithet is the designation either of (1) [spear], or (2) [evil, misfortune],
or, less probably, (3) [enemy, Ares].
As to ESCAPE, cf.

(Il. 13.436),

` (Il. 12.157),
(Od. 9.61),

(Il. 3.360) (5, 9.2).

As to HEAVY (1) [spear], cf. (Il. 5.746), (formu-
laic: Il. 3.357 et al.), (2) [evil, misfortune], cf. (Il. 10.71),

` (Aesch. Pers. 693) (9.1-2).

As to [ESCAPE - spear], cf.

(Il. 13.184) (9.1).

As to [ESCAPE - evil], cf.

`
(Il. 12.157), (Od. 9.61),

(Il. 3.360), (Od. 23.238) et sim. (5, 9.2).
The common denominator of spear, evil and enemy is evident: they are
HEAVY to endure, and a person, more precisely the warrior, tries to avoid / escape
them. The interrelation, not to say commutability, between [spear] (
, ) and [evil] ( ) and the connection of both with

, i.e. , is abundantly clear in Il. 3.357-60 (= Il 7.251-4):

` `

,
` `

Mycenaean Onomastics, Poetic Phraseology and Indo-European Comparison

19

` ` `

.
all the way through the glittering shield went the heavy spearhead and
smashed its way through the intricately worked corselet; straight ahead by
the ank the spearhead shore through his tunic, yet he bent away to one side
and avoided black death.
We can conclude that Myc. pu
2
-ke-qi-ri /P
h
ugeg
w
r(n)s/ may be understood as
who escapes/d the HEAVY spear or HEAVY evil, misfortune or the HEAVY enemy.
The Homeric evidence shows clearly that these are not shameful activities, but
rather those of a warrior who tries to avoid the enemys spear, or evil, as every
warrior does, without his being considered a coward at all.
10. Two possible objections remain. The rst concerns the collocations
[HEAVY spear] and [HEAVY evil, misfortune]. The rst of these is formulaic in the
case of #, but also with other epithets, such as (Il.
3.317, 4.481, ...), (Il. 3.346, 3.355 = 5.280, ...), (Il.
5.655, 6.65, ...), always at the end of the hexameter. For its part, [HEAVY evil,
misfortune] is not formulaic, as is # (Il. 2.859, 3.360 = 7.254,
etc.). The head of both nominal phrases is the noun, namely [spear], [evil], not
the epithet [HEAVY], which is formulaic only in the case of . On
this assumption, one would a priori expect selection of the noun, not of the
adjective, in a compound. Moreover, once an epithet is preferred, for [evil]
( ) one might expect [BLACK] (cf. ), which is formulaic, to be
worthy of selection instead of [HEAVY]. This is not, however, a decisive objection
against the interpretation proposed: it goes without saying that we can only try
to explain what is attested, and that we cannot always explain why a particular
choice was made and why another option was not selected.
59
A second open question was kindly pointed out to me by Calvert Watkins:
Why should or , which seem unmetapherfhig, have been
chosen, instead of , which is clearly metapherfhig? For the creation of
a structure [ESCAPE - the HEAVY], the more general and unmarked heavy
is not what was selected. The difculty is a real one and again we are confronted
with a choice that seems difcult to explain. However, our possible strictures do
not exclude the possibility that the giver of the name /P
h
uge-g
w
rn-/ could have
chosen another way. Myc. /g
w
rn-/ could go back to earlier phases of Greek and
59
Calvert Watkins suggests as a possible parallel the Theban WN a-qi-ti-ta /Ak
wh
t
h
it-/ (cf.
: Ved. rvo kitam imperishable fame, on which see Risch 1987). In this
case, the hypocoristic name reects the selection of the attribute, not of the noun itself. This
may be due to the higher semantic markedness of as against or .
Jos L. Garca Ramn
20
have been replaced by synonymous epithets at later stages of the poetic language.
In my opinion, the selection of archaic as a transferred epithet instead of
, , is perfectly possible, even if this is not the device that
seems the most logical to us.
11. The interpretation of /g
w
rn-/ as a transferred epithet, though plausible
in itself, may nd support in two Mycenaean theophoric names, a-wi-to-do-to
and i-su-ku-wo-do-to (KN), with second member do-to (cf. the type -,
). In both names the rst member is an epithet that may be the actual
designation of a deity, even if a minor one.
60
(1) The MN a-wi-to-do-to has been interpreted as /Awisto-dotos/ Given by
the invisible (deity).
61
Myc. a-wi-to- conceals /awisto/ : - invisible, a
transferred epithet, designating a god or goddess who is invoked and felt as not
visible, or whom one cannot look at, i.e. an * . It must be stressed
that are also mentioned in Attica and in Olympia by Pausanias
(1.1.4).
What kind of deity Myc. *a-wi-to could be remains unclear. It may be some
divinised being like Sleep, which risks being made by Zeus (Il. 14.258

` ` ...

... and he
(scil. Zeus) would have sunk me out of sight in the sea from the bright sky had
not Night rescued me).
62
It may also designate the Night, called `

by Proclos (Schol. ad Hes. Op. 15), and most probably a deity who was
felt to be (or who occasionally worked as) invisible. This is, in Classical times,
the case of Athena, who becomes invisible by putting on the helm of Hades (Il.
5.845) and who is addressed as by Ajax (Soph. Ai. 15

, ...).
63
She is in fact called in Schol. in Ar. Nub.
967. This may also be the case with the underworld goddess Persephone, who is
called `

` in Sophocles (OC 1556, lyr.).

64
Hades (-

, poetic
form for A) himself is felt to be the one whom one may not look at (Soph.
Ai. 608

), and his helm occasionally renders someone invisible

60
On both names cf. Garca Ramn 2005d:85ff. and 2007b:324ff.
61
Ilievski 1999:310, with reference to dat. in New Testament Greek.
62
Cf. Schol. D.: `

, Hsch.
.

< >.
63
Cf. Schol. ad loc. `

, ,

. `

...

.
64
Persephone is called

by Nonnos (6.139

... ), but this is

not a good parallel, as the poet refers to other gods (Zeus, Artemis, Dionysos) with the same
epithet.
Mycenaean Onomastics, Poetic Phraseology and Indo-European Comparison
21
(cf. supra): whatever the etymology of his name may be, it was synchronically
interpreted as invisible by the ancients.
65
(2) The MN i-su-ku-wo-do-to /Isk
h
uo-dotos/ may be understood as Given by
the powerful (god/goddess) on the assumption that */Isk
h
u-o/ is originally not
the deication of

power, strength, but an adjective, i.e. an epithet of a

deity.
66
In fact, Myc. /Isk
h
u-/ may be a motionless adjective powerful,
67
also
designating a goddess, as seen in gen. (Larisa, 2nd C.), in a
text edited by Helly 1970:271f., line 24: the form unmistakably points to an
Athena .
68
An epithet *

strong (fort, qui rsiste as per de

Lamberterie) from *si-sg
h
-- (cf. /-) may be assumed beside

(--)
force and *se g
h
-- (: *s g
h
-o/e-), continued by Gk.

- : Ved. shu-ri-,
denominative Hitt. akurria-
mi
.
69
Some deities of different rank are mentioned
as powerful in the 1st millenium, cf. Hera

, Ares et al.,
Moira , Hades , Phobos .
To sum up: Myc. a-wi-to /A-wisto/ and i-su-ku /Isk
h
u/ as the rst mem-
bers of theophoric names may be transferred epithets that designate deities or
divinised beings who are invisible (* ) and strong (*

` ),
respectively. Who these deities could be escapes us, but one thing is clear: they
can hardly be major divinities, because these are mentioned in Linear B by their
proper name, never by an epithet or cultic epiclesis.
12. An alternative explanation for pu
2
-ke-qi-ri was suggested to me by
Calvert Watkins.
70
In his opinion, /g
w
rn-/ may be a noun denoting something
concrete and weighty, anything heavy and potentially threatening, such as
Ved. gir-, Av. gairi- (7), which could conceivably have meant stone, rock,
like Alb. gur, and which could have been used as a weapon. This is a very attrac-
tive possibility, and actually ts into a well-known Iliadic commonplace, alt-
hough the usual Homeric terms for stone, rock are or . This idea
may be developed on the strength of the following points:
65
That the basic form is *

n-

uid- (Schulze 1892:468, Beekes 1998) is not cogent from the

formal point of view. Whether belongs to *seh
2
i- (Janda 2000:114ff.) must remain
open.
66
Given by the Strong (Ilievski 1999:309). The gods are often considered to be strong, cf.
Ar. Plut. 946 `

` ` , and Aesch. Sept. 226

` .
67
The motionless type, cf. e.g.

(Od. 12.369), has always been explained as met-

rically conditioned (most recently de Lamberterie 1990:886f. n. 4).
68
Athena is often called (Pind. Nem. 3. 50), also (Lycophr. 936),
(Anth. Gr.).
69
De Lamberterie 1990:297. See also Nussbaum 1998:528.
70
Per litteras 27.4.2006.
Jos L. Garca Ramn
22
(1) In Homer [stone] () is referred to as (Od. 9.305),
71
exactly
like [spear] () and enemy / Ares (cf. 9.1, 3):
Od. 9. 304-5

, .
seeing that our hands could never have pushed from the lofty gate the
ponderous boulder he had propped there
(2) , as the synonym of , is clearly associated with
(Il. 12.445ff., esp. 453, 460-1):
Il.12.445

453

459

` , ...
meanwhile Hektor snatched up a stone ... and carried it along (453) so
Hektor lifting the stone carried it straight for the door leaves (459) ... and
the stone crashed ponderously in and the gates groaned deep.
This is a second common collocation that [stone] shares with [spear], cf.
(Il. 5.745-6, 9.2).
(3) A stone is thrown ( , active ) and reaches its goal (or does not):
this collocation is attested with different lexemes for [stone], which occur in the
accusative with ( Il. 3.12), in the accusative or instrumental dative
with ( Il. 3.80, Il. 7.264-8, Il. 4.518+, Il.
7.270+),
72
as in:
Il. 3.12

`
and a man can see before him only as far as a stone cast
The parallelism between (

`) and ( ) is
evident, cf.
Il. 10.71 `

`
that Zeus cast on us as we were born this burden of evil
The burden of [evil] is cast on someone, just as a [stone] ( ) is thrown in
battle.
(4) The connection between [stone] and [escape], like that between [evil] and
[escape] (5, 9.2), is evident in
71
Also with Od. 9.240-1

/
he heaved up and set into position the huge door stop (), a massive thing;
with cliff 9.243.
72
Il. 7.264ff. `

... 266 / , Il. 4.518 ` ,

Il. 7.270

` , Il. 16.41 ... .

Mycenaean Onomastics, Poetic Phraseology and Indo-European Comparison
23
Il. 20.288

` ,

` ,
and there Aineias would have hit him with the stone as he swept in, on helm
or shield, which would have fended the bitter death from him.
The context makes the connection evident: [evil] is produced by the stone,
and the shield helps to [ESCAPE/EVADE] it. The conceptual continuity is clear: a
man casts a [stone] ( Il. 3.12, 7.266 et sim.) which hits, just as a man
or a god casts [evil, misfortune], which is painful, i.e. a [HEAVY evil] (`
).
We can therefore conclude that the Homeric evidence, namely the distribu-
tional patterns attested for [stone], strongly supports the interpretation of Myc.
/g
w
rn-/ as an old term for stone, rock, later replaced in Greek by other terms
(, , etc.), a term that may still survive in Myc. /P
h
uge-g
w
rn-/, if it
means who escaped the stone (*heavy thing).
13. To sum up: Myc. pu
2
-ke-qi-ri /P
h
ugeg
w
rns/ may be interpreted on the
strength of the Homeric collocations of the synonyms of its second member
/g
w
rn-/ (: heavy, replaced within Greek by , , ),
which is a transferred epithet or even an old term for stone. Myc. pu
2
-ke-qi-ri
/P
h
ugeg
w
r(n)s/ presents the men who bear it as gures who escape/d the heavy
(spear), or heavy (evil, misfortune), or the heavy (enemy), or the stone
(*heavy thing). These actions are those of a warrior in the ght, as repeatedly
attested in the Homeric poems, not those of a coward who ees. Myc. pu
2
-
ke-qi-ri / P
h
ugeg
w
rns/ may thus be safely considered a warrior name.
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