Научный архив: статьи

This article argues that Greek σφαδᾴζω ‘struggle, toss one’s body about’ is etymologically related to Proto-Iranian *zgad- ‘to ride, gallop’ and *zganda- ‘messenger’, the source of loanwords σαγγάνδης and ἀσγάνδης in Greek. Iranian nominal stems *zgandá- ‘rider, mounted messenger’ and *zgánda- ‘riding’ (reflected in Sogdian non-finite forms) suggest the reconstruction of a Proto-Iranian root *zgand-, the zero-grade form of which is found in tudáti-type verbal stem *zgadá-ti ‘rides, gallops’ (*zgad- < *zgn̥d-). The correspondence between Greek σφ- and Iranian *zg- is unproblematic, since these are regular reflexes of PIE *sg wh - in both languages, compare Younger Avestan zgərəsna- ‘round, circular’ vis-à-vis Greek σφαῖρα ‘sphere, ball, globe’. Importantly, in its earliest attestations Greek σφαδᾴζω is used to refer to horses that are prancing, struggling, and moving violently: the application of the verb to human agony is demonstrably secondary. The Greek verb is best analyzed as a denominative *σφαδαι-ιζω derived from an unattested adjective *σφάδαιος, itself made from a nominal stem *σφάδη or *σφαδή, cf. ματᾴζω ‘speak foolishly’ ← μάταιος ‘foolish’ ← μάτη ‘foolishness’; the underlying unattested noun, whether *σφάδη ‘kicking, tossing’ or *σφαδή ‘kick, toss’, is based on a thematic verbal stem *σφαδε/ο- ‘to kick, toss, move swiftly (of horses)’ identical in origin with Proto-Iranian *zgadá- ti. On the basis of these forms, a new PIE root *sg whend- / *sgwhn̥d- ‘to move quickly (of horses)’ can be reconstructed

This paper examines the form διεπρήστευσε, obelized in the editions of Herodotus. There have been two ways of interpreting the form: some scholars have taken it to refer to an act of speech, while others have sought here a verb of motion. Both groups of scholars proposed a variety of conjectures, some of them addenda lexicis and none of them commanding immediate acceptance. After a review of various solutions that have been proposed to-date, this paper argues in favor of retaining the reading of the paradosis and analyzing (-)πρηστεύω as a verb of quick motion. The verb is argued to be an Ionic colloquialism (or even Herodotus’ own Augenblicksbildung), derived from the root of πίμπρημι in its original meaning ‘to blow’ (of which ‘to burn’ is a secondary development) via an agent noun πρηστήρ / *πρήστης, cf. μνηστεύω ‘woo’: μνηστήρ ‘suitor’ or δυναστεύω ‘hold power’: δυνάστης ‘person with power’. The proposed translation ‘blasted, dashed’ is supported by typological parallels for the semantic development ‘to blow’ → ‘to move (impetuously)’, such as Old English blǽstan ‘to blow; to move impetuously’ or Russian dut’ ‘to blow; to dash, to rush’. Interestingly, Hittite (parip) parāi-, the cognate of Gk. πίμπρημι, may show the same semantic development: ‘to blow’, ‘to ignite fire by blowing’ > ‘to move swiftly’.