ἄξε(ι)νος

Grammatical information: adj.

Meaning: `the Black Sea' (Hdt., Pi.).

Origin: LW [a loanword which is (probably) not of Pre-Greek origin]X [probably] Iran.

Etymology: Prob. euphemistic for ἄξε(ι)νος `inhospitable' (of the Black Sea e. g. Pi. P. 4, 263, E. IT 348), from Iranian (Scythian?) through folk-etymology, cf. Av. axšaēna- `dark-coloured'. Vasmer Osteur. Ortsnamen (Acta Univ. Dorp. B: I 3 [1921]) 3ff., Jacobsohn KZ 54, 254ff. S. also Allen Class. Quart. 41, 86ff.; 42, 60 against Moorhouse ib. 34, 123ff.; 42, 59f., who rejects Iranian origin. Recently R. Schmitt, Sel. Onom. Writings (2000) 158-163, who assumes that these names did not refer to a reality, but that the colour-names were used to indicate the cardinal points, for which he gives reff. in n. 7 (but none about Persia); the use of the colour names would have to be the same as in the Slavic world; his reference to the interest of the Persian kings in maritime connections proves nothing. Also the fact that several southern seas were called `red' might better be connected with the fact that Homer knows two Ethiopia's; and καλεομένη just means `(was) called', not `so-called' and is not "a clear hint on the improper or figurative use of the \<colour\>word."

Page in Frisk: 1,590