Έρμ-άων

Grammatical information: m.

Meaning: `Poseidon' (Att.).

Dialectal forms: Myc. Posedao, dat. -ne.

Derivatives: Beside it ep. poet. Ποσειδάων, - άωνος, Ion. - έων, lyr., also Cret., Epid., Arc. a.o. inscr. Ποσειδάν, Arc. also Ποσοιδάν, from where Lac. Ποhοιδάν (on the acc. Hdn. 2, 914 a. 916). With - τ- in Dor. forms from diff. areas: Ποτειδά(Ϝ)ων, - δάν, also (Dor. a. Att. com.) Ποτ(ε)ιδᾶς; further also (Aeol.?) Ποτοιδαν (Pergam. V^a). -- From it 1. Ποσειδώνιος (also as PN), - δαώνιος, - δάνιος, Ποτειδάνιος `consecrated to P.', esp. - ιον n. `temple of P.' 2. Ποσιδήϊος (ep. Ion. beside Aeol. Ποσειδάων, metr. condit.; Chantraine Gramm. hom. 1, 20), - δεῖος, - δαῖος, - ιον n. `id.', Myc. Posidaijo, with Ποσιδηϊών, - δεών IA. Monthname. 3. Ποτείδαια f. name of a Corinth. colony on Chalkidike. 4. Ποτιδάϊχος Boeot. PN (Bechtel Dial. 1, 267).

Origin: PG [a word of Pre-Greek origin]X [probably]

Etymology: From Ποτειδά̄Ϝων (like Μαχά̄-ων, Άρετά-ων a.o.; Schwyzer 521) arose through contraction - δῶν, - δάν; beside it - δᾶς; cf. Έρμ-άων, - άν, - έας, - ῆς (Kretschmer Glotta 9, 217). The adj. Ποσιδήϊος prob. rather after Όδυσήϊος, Νηλήϊος a.o. than (with Schwyzer 271) from an unatt. *Ποσιδᾶς. The assibilated forms must be generalized from Ποσι- beside older Ποτει-. -- God of the waters (rivers, sources, of the sea). The name is not certainly interpreted. Already by Fick Curt. Stud. 8, 307 explained as univerbation of a voc. *Πότει Δᾶς `o Lord (spouse) of Da, i.e. the earth' (s. Δήμητηρ), an interpretation, which was accepted by Hoffmann and esp. by Kretschmer several times (e.g. Glotta 1, 27 f., 382f.; 13, 245; 22, 255, Wien. Stud. 24, 523ff.) argued and presented with consent of several scholars (Schulze, v. Wilamowitz [s. Schwyzer 271], Mayrhofer AnzAltWiss. 5 [1952] 59 ff., Schachermeyr Poseidon und die Entstehung des griech. Götterglaubens [Bern 1950] 13 ff., Schwyzer 446 a. 572). Ποσι- was then taken as a younger form of the voc., Ποτοι- sometimes (e.g. Schwyzer l.c.) explained as old ablaut-form (rejected by Kretschmer Glotta 1, 383). -- Rejection or doubt by Bechtel Dial. 1, 64f., Fraenkel Lexis 3, 50 ff., thus by several other scholars, who proposed instead other, certainly not better hypotheses: Ehrlich Betonung 81 ff. (to ποταμός and οἶδμα; by Kretschmer Glotta 6, 294 rejected); Heubeck IF 64, 225 ff. (to πόντος and δαῆναι); Carnoy Les ét. class. 22, 342 (2. member to Skt. dā́nu- `drop, dew'). Older attempts w. rich lit. in Nilsson Gr. Rel. 1, 445 w. n. 2 a. 3. -- Ruijgh REG 80(1967)6-16 concludes that Pre-Greek origin remains a possibility, which seems to me the most probable conclusion. I would posit a form *pat^yaitūn, with a pronounced [o] after labial, with ai pronounded as [ei] as often, and with ū = ω; but I found no confirmation of this reconstruction.

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