Jana THOMPSON
What's
in a Name: Examining the Etymology ofPoludeukês
Many attempts have been made through the years to work out
a fully satisfactory etymology of
Poludeukês The puzzle of the etymology is that it
does not seem to fit the logical PIE root one would expect for
this word - *deuk- (PIE, to lead or draw) which does not
occur elsewhere in Greek, which is a mystery due to the general
tendancy for Greek to follow the structure of the PIE root very
closely. Due to this, a formal approach to the problem has been
most difficult, and no one has attempted to do so. Thus, in
taking a more semantic based approach, the solution a scholar
derives is quite possibly not the best possible one.
In approaching Poludeukês, scholars have proposed
various PIE roots as the source of his name, such as
*d/lewkw - 'be clear, see (as), look (like).
This is the basis of N.E. Collinge's etymology for
Poludeukês, which, while formally feasible, lacks a
sustainable semantic argument. Gregory Nagy, in his work on the
etymology of Poludeukês, does accept that *deuk-
is the most likely source of Poludeukês ' name, but that
*deuk- here means something more akin to 'drawing
continously toward a definite goal' (Nagy, 1996; 48). Nagy's
argument draws heavily on the Latin use of this root to make
his argument, while there is no evidence for this same usage in
Greek.
To gain a better etymology of Poludeukês, many things
must be considered - the role of the Divine Twins in other
Indo-European pantheons (most notably Slavic and Indic), the
tales that are told specifically about the Dioskouroi in Greek
myth, and textual evidence from all sources, including
Mycenaean. Furthermore, there is a necessity to examine Greek
dialectal variation to see if there are any clues as to another
possible root that is in hidden form due to this variation. In
Linear B tablets, the gloss ze-u-ke-si (inflected in the
dative plural) is found and has been translated as 'ox-teams',
derived from the PIE root *(h2)yeug- 'yoke,
join'. Fraser notes that Deuxippos in Boeotian came out
as Zeuxippos in Thessalian - a Bahuvrhi compound meaning
'having yoked horses'.In Sparta, the main cult center of the
Dioskouroi, there was a powerful family, noted in Pindar
(Isthmian) and Herodotus, who claimed its descent from
Theban rulers.
Furthermore, Poludeukês role in Greek mythology must
also be given consideration. The Dioskouroi were known for
their wealth and benevolence and appearances to sailors who
were in danger. The twins appeared in several tales, but the
one in which they play the most prominent role is in that of
the Arcadian cattle raid. Poludeukês' role here is that
of victor, and thus, he became wealthy due to having a
preponderance of that by which wealth was measured in the
ancient world - cattle.Given this, it is not unreasonable to
begin making a case for Poludeukês as a Bahuvrhi with a
meaning of 'having many ox (or yoked) teams.'