Can the name of the Greek goddess Demeter come from PIE word for tamer, dōma̯tēr (especially given the Aeolic form of the goddess' name, Δωμάτηρ)? I am interested in both whether it is possible from sound change perspective and semantically.
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3 Answers
This etymology seems unlikely to me for several reasons:
- A long o-grade in a Greek agent noun in -ter is at best unusual. I can't think of another such example, at any rate.
- The -a- of the second syllable is long, as shown by Attic-Ionic Δημήτηρ. Of course, one could invoke folk etymology here, so this isn't conclusive.
- The vowel in the first syllable in the more common forms of the name, Δημήτηρ / Δαμάτηρ, cannot come from PIE *ō.
- It's pretty clear that Δαμάτηρ is a compound of Δα-μάτηρ, since the first element seems to occur in the name of Poseidon: Potei-dāōn 'husband of Da' (which he isn't in the traditional mythology, but seems to have formerly been).
- It's not clear why an earth goddess should be named 'Tamer'.
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Regarding the point 1 and 3, I actually do not know whether there was long o in PIE. Definitely the word for house had it, but in the word for tamer I speculated long o only based on the Aeolic form.– AnixxJan 27, 2015 at 9:17
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I have doubts Poseidon is related to Demeter, as Poseidon has a digamma in the middle as evident from Mycenean Greek, that is the original form is *Poteidawōn ("a" isn't long!) I'm not sure there are examples where -aw- collapses into -ā-, that is: *Dawmāter > *Dāmāter– carstenJan 30, 2015 at 22:49
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@carsten The Mycenaean form, AFAIK, is Poseidaon, without a w; there is a Corinthian form of the name which has -w-, but this has to be innovative. The length of the -a- is shown by Homeric meter.– TKRJan 31, 2015 at 1:04
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@TKR Hiatuses like "ao" usually appeared due to a loss of intervocalic -w-, -j- or -s-; Corinthian as you mention has -w-, how can this be a coincidence? As for length of -a-, I'm not sure– carstenJan 31, 2015 at 19:38
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@carsten But -ao- would appear naturally if the derivation is Dā-ōn. Whatever the origin of the Corinthian -w- it can't be old, as the Mycenaean spellings show. Not sure what you mean about the length of -a-, since it's clearly long in Homer.– TKRJan 31, 2015 at 21:28
Most probably her name derives from PIE *dhǵhōm-. Kretschmer suggests that δᾶ (Δαματήρ) is a pre-Greek version of γη/γᾶ, but I tend to believe Heubeck's (1961) and others suggestion of an Indo-European root for 'earth'. Phrygian has
Γδαν μα
so that speaks too for a IE-root. Δᾶ seems to be the Doric version of γη/γᾶ.
Now in order to be cautious, we should remember that Phrygian could (or should) have shared substratum with Greek, hence that wouldn't eliminate Kretschmer's theory. However, I don't see much support for it by others.
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@Anixx: Yes, sorry! I will correct it. dhǵhem-, dhǵhom- is should be. It is written like that (with an "n") in Beekes etymological dictionary of Greek.– MidasJan 26, 2015 at 13:24
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@Anixx: Let me have a closer look and I will get back to you later today. The meaning 'earth mother' feels natural in terms of Greek etymology, but I would like to examine what you suggest in depth.– MidasJan 26, 2015 at 13:28
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This root gave Greek khamai, khthon. Isee no retention of d- in Greek.– AnixxJan 26, 2015 at 13:31
Both the name and the cult suggest a connection with the Sumerian god Dumuzi. Another tradition that may be at the root of Demeter is that of Tiamat. This may also explain her link to Poseidon.
