Hermes Ἀργεϊφόντης and Agni bhā́r̥jīka
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Laura Massetti
Abstract
The paper concerns Ἀργεϊφόντης, an epithet of Hermes in Greek hexameter poetry. I propose that the form is ultimately to be interpreted as a Kunstform, i.e. a metrical adaptation of *ἀργεϊφάων, the univerbation of *ἄργεϊ φάων ‘shining in white (light)’, as first proposed by Koller (1976). Furthermore, I identify Vedic bhā́r̥jīka‑ (RV), an epithet of Agni, as a phraseological match for the Greek appellative. I argue that bhā́r̥jīka‑ may be understood as ‘flashing with white appearance’ or ‘whose white appearance is shining.’ Moreover, the compound is built with the same lexical material as Greek ἀργεϊφόντης: IE *bʰeh₂‑ ‘to shine, become visible’ and IE *h₂erǵ‑ ‘white.’
© 2022 by Walter de Gruyter Berlin/Boston
Articles in the same Issue
- Titelei
- Inhalt
- Altisländisch vatr neben vatn, färöisch vatur neben vatn ‚Wasser‘
- Alternative etymologies for two British Celtic verbal forms
- The Luwic inflection of proper names, the Hittite dative-locative of i- and iia̯ -stems, and the Proto-Anatolian allative
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- Une innovation divine
- The mixed aorist subjunctive in Classical Armenian
- A note on Greek ἰκμάς
- Greek τηλεκλυτός ‘far-famed’ and its Welsh comparanda
- Interlocked life cycles of counterfactual mood forms from Archaic to Classical Greek
- The root of all gluttony
- Artemis Orthia
- Linguistic evidence for Kuṣāṇa trade routes
- Variation and change in the formal marking of Khotanese I
Articles in the same Issue
- Titelei
- Inhalt
- Altisländisch vatr neben vatn, färöisch vatur neben vatn ‚Wasser‘
- Alternative etymologies for two British Celtic verbal forms
- The Luwic inflection of proper names, the Hittite dative-locative of i- and iia̯ -stems, and the Proto-Anatolian allative
- Sobre el origen de la escansión larga de la sílaba reduplicada de ἵημι
- Luwian Tarhunaza-, Cilician Τροκοναζας, Τρικοναζας
- Take up your arms
- Hermes Ἀργεϊφόντης and Agni bhā́r̥jīka
- Une innovation divine
- The mixed aorist subjunctive in Classical Armenian
- A note on Greek ἰκμάς
- Greek τηλεκλυτός ‘far-famed’ and its Welsh comparanda
- Interlocked life cycles of counterfactual mood forms from Archaic to Classical Greek
- The root of all gluttony
- Artemis Orthia
- Linguistic evidence for Kuṣāṇa trade routes
- Variation and change in the formal marking of Khotanese I