Startseite Greek λοιμός, Middle Persian rēm, and the Avestan root rai̯-
Artikel
Lizenziert
Nicht lizenziert Erfordert eine Authentifizierung

Greek λοιμός, Middle Persian rēm, and the Avestan root rai̯-

  • Paolo Milizia EMAIL logo
Veröffentlicht/Copyright: 7. November 2015
Veröffentlichen auch Sie bei De Gruyter Brill

Abstract

The Greek name of the plague has not received a satisfactory etymological explanation so far. On the other hand, the largely accepted hypothesis that the Middle Persian noun rēm ‘dirt, impurity’ is derived from a verbal base meaning ‘defecate’ is, in fact, problematic. The present paper aims to show that MPers. rēm and Gk. λοιμός can be viewed as reflexes of a PIE stem *loi̯-mó- indicating a ‘polluted (and polluting) substance’ and that the Avestan root rai̯-, probably connected with MPers. rēm, must have had the generic meaning of ‘to dirt, to pollute’.

Online erschienen: 2015-11-7
Erschienen im Druck: 2015-10-16

© 2015 by Walter de Gruyter Berlin/Boston

Heruntergeladen am 15.9.2025 von https://www.degruyterbrill.com/document/doi/10.1515/if-2015-0006/html
Button zum nach oben scrollen