γλαπ-

Grammatical information: PN m.

Meaning: hero, later god of medicine (Il.)

Dialectal forms: Dor. -ᾱπιός; Αἰσκλαπιός (Epid. a. Troiz.), Άσχλαπιός (Boeot.), Αἰσχλαπιός Άσκαλαπιός (Thess.), Άσκαλπιός (Gort.), Αἰσχλαβιός (bronze figure from Bologna with Corinthian letters; s. Kretschmer Glotta 30, 116), ᾽Αγλαπιός Lac., Αἰγλαπιός.

Derivatives: ἀσκληπιάς f. name of a plant (Dsc; s. Strömberg Pflanzennamen 99).

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

Etymology: Unexplained. H. Grégoire (with R. Goossens and M. Mathieu) in Asklèpios, Apollon Smintheus et Rudra 1949 (Mém. Acad. Roy. de Belgique. Cl. d. lettres. 2. sér. 45), explains the name as `the mole-hero', connecting σκάλοψ, ἀσπάλαξ `mole' and refers to the resemblance of the Tholos in Epidauros and the building of a mole. (Thus Puhvel, Comp. Mythol.1987, 135.) But the variants of Asklepios and those of the word for `mole' do not agree. - The name is typical for Pre-Greek words; apart from minor variations (β for π, αλ(α) for λα) we find α\/αι (a well known variation; Fur. 335 - 339) followed by - γλαπ- or - σκλαπ-\/- σχλαπ\/β-, i.e. a voiced velar (without - σ-) or a voiceless velar (or an aspirated one: we know that there was no distinction between the three in the substr. language) with a - σ-. I think that the - σ- renders an original affricate, which (prob. as δ) was lost before the - γ- (in Greek the group - σγ- is rare, and certainly before another consonant); this affricate will have been palatal (i.e. c<sup>y</sup>), of which the palatal character was (sometimes) expressed with a (preceding, or following) ι, for which see on ἐξαίφνης, ἐξαπίνης and πινυτός \/ πνυτός. S. Beekes Pre-Greek. - Szemerényi's etymology ( JHS 94, 1974, 155) from Hitt. assula(a)- `well-being' and piya- `give' cannot be correct, as it does not explain the velar.

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